





II 11 // // I /// III ^^•»*-»o3 



MAGIC, 

PRETENDED MIRACLES, 



REMARKABLE 

NATURAL PHEXOMEXA. 



PITTLADELPHIA: 
^ AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNIOK, 

NO. 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 

LOXDOX: 
RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY. 



^^\ 



^^'^ 

^ 



"^v 



\%^ 



Note.— The Amencan Sunday-school Union hare made an 
arrangement with the London Religious Tract Society, to pub- 
lish, concurrently with them, such of their valuable works as 
are best suited to our circulation. In making the selection, 
reference will be had to the general utility of the volumes, and 
their sound moral tendency. They will occupy a distinct place 
on our catalogue, and will constitute a valuable addition to our 
stock of books for family and general reading. 

As they will be, substantially, reprints of the London edition, 
the credit of their general character will belong to our English 
brethren and not to us ; and we may add, that the republica- 
tion of them, under our joint imprint, involves us in no respon- 
sibility beyond that of a judicious selection. We cheerfully 
avail ourselves of this arrangement for giving wider influence 
and value to the labours of a sister institution so catholic in 
its character and so efficient in its operations as the vL(m<?on 
Religious Tract Society. 

|]U" T^lC present volume is issued under the above arrange- 
ment. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

The magi of the east— Magical po>Yer attributed to num- 
bers, plants, and minerals 5 

CHAPTER 11. 

Feats of modern magicians — Their wonders explained — 
Tlie snake-charmers of India — A Chinese delusion— 
The magician of Cairo 1<> 

CHAPTER III. 

Machines con sideretl magical in ancient times — Remark- 
able modern automata— Minute engines— Tiie calcu- 
lating machine 30 

CHAPTER IV. 

Terrestrial phenomena— Footmarks on rocks— The Logan 
stone — Sounds in stones — The cave of St. Paul — 
Atmospherical phenomena — Intermitting springs — 
Waters of magical power 41 

CHAPTER V. 

Chemical wonders— Ice obtained in a red-hot vessel— 
The corpse candles of Wales— Luminous appearances 
after death— Sadoomeh the magician— The laughing 
pas -Sulphuric ether- Chloroform- Gunpowder com- 
pared with gun-cotton 62 

CHAPTER VI. 

Light and its phenomena— Magic pictures— Ttie optical 
paradox — Chinese metallic mirrors— Effect of an optical 
instrument on a superstitious mind— Origin of photo- 
graphy—The Talbotype— The Daguerreotype — Sun- 
light pictures 87 

iii 



IV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

Heat, the cause of many wonders— Its universal diffusion 
and application— Story of a burning-glass— The Au- 
gustine friars and the Jesuits — Impostures as to the 
endurance of heat — Burnino;' mirrors — The blow-pipe 
—The Giants' Causeway— Application of currents of 
heated air^Travelling by steam 107 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The magic swan — Properties of the magnet— The mari- 
ners' compass— Process of magnetizing— The dip of 
the needle— Magnetic properties in various substances 124 

CHAPTER IX. 

Tlie electrical kite— Candles magically lighted— St. 
Elmo's lire — The chronoscope— The electric clock — 
The electric telegraph— Sub-marine telegraphs— The 
overruling providence of God 133 

CHAPTER X. 

Claims of the church of Rome to miraculous power— The 
Franciscans and Dominicans— Tale of bishop Remi — 
The effect of relics— Friars' pretended dispossession of 
€vil spirits — Tragical event— Appearance of the virp^'n • 
Mar\' to shepherds exposed— Pretended miracle of the 
Greek church 154 

CHAPTER XL 

Real amiracles — A miracle defined by rchbishop Tillot- 
son — The miracles of Moses— The miracles of our Lord 
Jesus Christ— The miracles* of the apostles— Collision 
with those who pretended to supernatural power — The 
magicians of Egypt— Magical arts at Ephesus— The 
miraculous power of the Saviour inherent, that of the 
prophets and apostles derived — Cessation of miracu- 
lous gifts 181 



MAGIC, PRETENDED MIRxiCLES, 



CHAPTEE I. 



The magi of the east — Magical power attributed to 
numbers, plants, and minerals. 

Thk magi formed one of the six tribes into 
which the nation of the Medes was divided in 
ancient times. To them was entrusted the 
special charge of religion; and, as priests, they 
were superior in education and training to the 
people in general. Among the Persians, " the 
lovers of wisdom and the servants of God" 
were, according to Suidas, called magi. It 
seems also, that they extended themselves into 
other lands, and that among the Chaldeans 
they were an organized body. 

We read in the inspired book of Daniel, of 
" the magi," or " wise men," among whom the 
prophet himself was classed; and others, we 
know, directed by " the star in the east," weht 
to the infant Saviour, when born, at Bethlehem, 
" as Christ the Lord," and presented to him 
their offerings, " gold, and frankincense, and 
myrrh." Among the Greeks and Romans, the 
1* 6 . 



6 MAGIC. 

same class of persons was styled Chaldeans and 
magi. 

For a time, the magi surpassed the rest of 
the world in knowledge, and were the friends, 
companions, and counsellors, of its mightiest 
sovereigns. But their science, from having 
no solid basis, sank, after a while, into in- 
significance. On the ruins of its reputation 
other persons sought to build theirs. A man 
who knew, or could perform some things, with 
which others had no acquaintance, or for which . 
they had no power, announced himself as a 
magician. Nor were the people indisposed to 
concede to him the credit he desired, espe- 
cially if he claimed alliance with spiritual 
beings ; and, in not a few instances, they at- 
tributed his marvels to such agency. Thus, 
then, the magician may be traced to the magus ^ 
or magian ; and magic, to the so-called philo- 
sophy of the east 

Magic squares are of great antiquity. A 
square of this kind is divided into several other 
small equal squares, or cells, filled up with the 
terms of any progression of numbers, but 
generally an arithmetical one; so that those 
in each band, whether horizontal, vertical, or 
diagonal, shall always make the same sum. 
The ancients ascribed to them great virtues; 
and the disposition of numbers formed the 
basis and principle of many of their talismans. 
Accordingly, a square of one cell, filled up 
with unity, was the symbol of the Deity, on 
account of the unity and immutability of God ; 



MAGICAL rOWER OF PLANTS. 7 

for they remarked that this square was, by ita 
natiire, unique and immutable; the product of 
unity by itself being always unity. The 
square of the root two, was the symbol of im- 
perfect matter, both on account of the four 
elements, and of its being supposed impossible to 
arrange this square magically. A square of nine 
cells was assigned or consecrated to Saturn ; that 
ofsixteen to Jupiter; that of twenty-five to Mars; 
that of thirty-six to the sim; that of forty-nine 
to Venus ; that of sixty-four to Mercury ; and 
that of eighty-one, or nine on each side, to the 
moon. Those who can find any relation be- 
tween two planets, and such an arrangement of 
mimbers, must have minds strongly tinctured 
with superstition ; yet so it was in the mysterious 
philosophy of lamblichus, Porphyry, and their 
disciples. 

Plants, as well as numbers, were long con- 
sidered to be endowed with magical properties. 
Pliny enumerates those which, according to 
Pythagoras, were supposed to have the power 
of concealing waters. To others were attri- 
buted extraordinary effects. The asyrites, as 
it was denominated by the Egyptians, was 
iLsed under the idea that it acted as a de- 
fence against witchcraft ; and the nepenthes^ 
which Helen presented, in a potion, to Mene- 
laus, was believed, by the same people, to be 
powerful in banishinp: sadness, and in restoring 
the mind to its accustomed, or even to greater 
cheerfulness. Whatever may be the virtues of 
such herbs, they were used rather from an 



8 MAGIC. 

idea of their magical than of their medicinal 
qualities; every cure was cunningly ascribed 
to some mysterious and occult power. 

From the same superstition, metals and 
stones were supposed to be endowed with sin- 
gular virtues: the opal, to grow pale at the 
touch of poison; the emerald, to remove intoxi- 
cation; and the carbuncle, "only to be found 
in the head of the dragon, the hideous inhabit- 
ant of the island of Ceylon," to shine in the 
darkness. As the metal called gold always 
bore the highest value, it was concluded, from 
an absurd analogy, that its power to preserve 
health and cure disease must likewise surpass 
that of all other applications. Multitudes gave 
themselves to busy idleness in attempting to 
render it potable, and to prevent it from again 
being converted into metal. Not only did they 
labour in obscure situations, but in the splendid 
laboratories of nobles and sovereigns. Men 
of rank, impelled by one common frenzy, 
formed secret alliances ; and even proceeded to 
such extravagance as to bring ruinous debts on 
themselves and their posterity. The object of 
which they were in pursuit was " an eUxir of 
life." 

In Italy, Germany, France, and other 
countries, the common people often denied 
themselves the necessaries of life, to save as 
much as would purchase a few drops of the 
tincture of gold, which was superstitiously or 
fraudulently offered for sale. So fully did they 
confide in the efficacy of this imaginary power, 



MAGIC POWER OF MINERALS. 9 

that on it generally depended their only hope 
of recovery. Positively was the desired boon 
promised, but only to mock expectation. Our 
times are in the hands of God ; and at his will 
tlie dust returns to the dust from whence it 
was taken, and the spirit to him who gave it. 

How fearful was the ignorance that prevailed 
in the bygone times to Avhich a reference has 
been made! What gratitude should w^e feel for 
the advantages we enjoy! Let us, then, con- 
stantly remember that as to us much has been 
given, so of us much will be required; and that 
one kind of knowledge surpasses all others: 
"This," said the adorable Redeemer, " is life 
eternal, that they might know thee the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast 
sent,'' John xvii. 3. 



CHAFTEK II. 

Feats of modern ma2;iciaris — Their wonders explained — The 
snake-channers of India — A Chinese delusion — The magi- 
cian of Cjuvo. 

WoNDER-woRKEES have often appeared. Some 
of them have late!}'' repeated their most re- 
markable feats in London and various places in. 
England, varied by others of inferior interest. 
Large and astonished assemblies have witnessed 
their performance, and public journals have 
described them as absolutely " inexplicable." 
And yet, though the w^riter has no personal 
acquaintance with any modern " magician," he 
has no doubt that all their feats may be ac- 
counted for, from sleight-of-hand, confederacy, 
ingenious contrivance, or the application of 
some natural law. A few illustrations shall 
now be given. 

Many delusions are entirely dependent on 
sleight -of -hand; a rapidity of manipulation 
being attained by long practice, as in the mar- 
vellous movements of the fingers of a highly 
accomplished instrumental performer ; while the 
power may become so great as to defy the 
10 



ILLUSIONS EXPLAINED. 11 

observation of the acutest vision. The late 
Mr. Walker, minister at Den) attar, in the 
Mears, told sir Walter Scott of a young 
country girl, who threw turf, stones, and other 
missiles, with such dexterity, that it was, for a 
time, impossible to ascertain the agency em- 
ployed in the disturbances of which she w^as 
the sole cause. 

A friend of the writer has a remarkable nicety 
of touch, and, at pleasure, a rapid movement of 
the hands, by which he can rival many magical 
feats. Thus he conveys balls under cups, and 
appears to change them into fruit, to the 
astonishment of lookers-on. He also takes tw^o 
horn cups of exactly the same size, and pro- 
duces the impression that he causes one to fall 
through the other, when this is impossible, and 
all that is done is effected 'by dexterous and 
rapid manipulation, illustrating the proverb, 
" The hand is quicker than the eye." 

Many astounding feats, which form a part of 
all popular magical exhibitions, are performed 
by this leger-de-main. Apparently, the per- 
former receives a lady's wedding-ring and 
breaks it in pieces; burns a five-pound note 
handed to him by a spectator ; reduces a hat 
to a hideous shape; or crushes a bonnet into 
fragments, and then restores them uninjured to 
the respective parties, amidst the acclamations 
of the multitude. But all that is done is with 
indescribable rapidity to substitute articles of 
his own to undergo the process of destruc- 
tion, and, at the right moment, to exhibit those 



12 MAGIC. 

which have been presented by the spectators, 
and are preserved in safety. 

Another cause of wonderment is confederacy. 
A modern performer has been accustomed to 
hand a box to one of his audience, requesting 
that in it might be placed any article that he 
had, and that it might be passed on from one 
to another for the same purpose. While this 
has been done, he has proceeded to his table, 
and apparently waited the filling of the box. 
At length, while the box has been held up at a 
distance, he has placed his rod to his eye and 
described the collection that has been made. 
He has said, perhaps, " I can see in that box a 
piece of ribbon, a lozenge, a few grains, part, I 
dare say, of a pinch of snuff, and a lady's card; 
I will try and read it — Miss — Clara — Hen- 
derson ;" and so he passes through the chief part 
of the series. And yet, as his patrons look on 
with astonishment, they do not think of what 
is most likely to be the fact, that a confederate, 
sitting as one of the audience, made a list of 
the articles as they were deposited in the box, 
and despatched it in portions or altogether, so 
that their names might reach the eye of the 
performer from some part of his table. 

A third means of wonder-working is that of 
ingenious contrivance. We will illustrate this 
by two popular feats. A number of handker- 
chiefs taken from the audience by more than 
one popular performer, were placed in a small 
washing-tub, into which water was poured, and 
they were washed for a few minutes. They 



ILLUSIONS EXPLAINED. 



13 



were then placed in a vessel like the figure, 
below, and immediately 
afterwards the performer 
said to the persons in 
front : " I Avill give you 
these;" and taking off 
the top, when he was 
expected to throw out 
the wet handkerchiefs, 
all that fell was a num- 
ber of flowers. He now 
brought out a box, which 
he opened, and showed 
it to be empty ; then 
shutting it, and uttering 
a few cabalistic words, 
he opened it again, and 
there were the handker- 
chiefs, all dry, folded, 
and scented, which he 
distributed to their re- 

pective claimants. 

Another experiment of a popular performer 
^vas called "coffee for the million.'' Producing 
;i vessel like the diagram A ; 
the pertbrmer filled it with un- 

: round coffee, and placing it 

.uder a cover B, he said, '* There, 
-when you have done that, let it 
simmer for three-quarters-of-an 
hour ; but, perhaps, you will 
not like to wait so long ; here 
2 






14 MAGIC. 

then it is ;" and on removing 
the cover, the vessel appeared 
full of hot liquid coffee. In 
another vessel of the same 
kind he obtained lump-sugar 
^^ from rape-seed ; and in a third, 
"^^^-^ warm milk from horse-beans ; 
and pouring out the coffee 
into cups, sent them round to 
regale his auditory, amidst 
B their md and approving 

shouts at so great a transformation. 

As these feats are the result of considerable 
ingenuity, it is probable that the devices em- 
ployed would not readily occur to spectators in 
general, while they would utterly escape those 
whose object is merely amusement, and who, if 
they thought at all, would be likely to describe 
the result as supernatural. We proceed, then, 
to the unravelling of the mystery. Let it be 
observed, in reference to the first experiment, 
that a number of handkerchiefs are collected in 
the early part of the evening for various illu- 
sions, and that many of them appear for a time 
on the performer's table. Provided with a 
collection of these articles, from the handsome 
silk handkerchief to one trimmed with lace, 
used by a fashionable lady, he could easily 
substitute his own of the same kind for those of 
his auditory, as the curtain falls, according to 
the arrangements of the evening, between the 
collection of the handkerchiefs and the subse- 
quent process. His own handkerchiefs, there- 



ILLUSIONS EXPLAINED. 



15 



fore, are washed and placed in the vase already 
described; and the so-called change into flowers 
is nothing more than 
the retention of the 
handkerchiels in the 
lower part of the appa- 
ratus, which the figure 
illustrates, while the 
upper part holds the 
flowers till they are 
scattered among the 
spectators. Meanwhile, 
all that is required is 
done to their handker- 
chiefs. It is not abso- 
lutely necessary that 
they should be washed; 
for folding, pressing, 
and a little eau-de-Co- 
logne, would complete 
the preparation ; but 
granting that they are 
washed, there is still no 
difiiculty, though this 
mystifies the specta- 
tors, who have the idea 
that drying is a long afiair ; for it may be 
eflected in a minute or two by a machine 
that is readily obtained. The box brought 
out has them deposited in it, but as it is 
double, one interior is first shown, which, of 
course, contains nothing, for the inner drawer 
holding the handkerchiefs remains in the case ; 




16 



MAGIC. 



but when a few sounds are uttered and the 
professor touches a secret spring behind, which 
disengages the inner box, he draws it out with 
the outer one ; and presents the handkerchiefs 




tn tlie audience. In the diagram A, the box is 
.sjjown as empty. At B, we have a representa- 
tion of the box containing the handkerchiefs. 



ILLUSIONS EXPIAWED. It 

It is only necessary to add that the bcx is very 
nicely made ; the part within the other drawn 
out to the end, defies detection. 

The preparation of coffee, milk, and sugar, 
may be easily explained ; for if the vessels con- 
taining respectively the unground coffee, the 
rape-seed, and the horse-beans, always placed 
under a cover, be put on a part of the table 




having a circuljyr trap-door — and for this there 

is lull provision in the cover of the table ex- 

2* 



18 MAGIC. 

tending to the floor — a confederate may readily 
substitute one for the other. 

The Eev. W. Arthur, in his work on the 
Mysore, directs us to results of a different kind: 
— '^ Whilst walking in the verandah," he says, 
" some snake-charmers approached, and forth- 
with began to show us their skill. They pro- 
duced several bags and baskets, containing 
serpents of the most poisonous kind — the cobra 
di capello ; then blew upon an instrument 
shaped like a cocoa-nut, with a short tube 
inserted, and producing music closely allied to 
that of the bag -pipe. The animals were brought 
forth, raised themselves to the music, spread 
out their head, showing the spectacle mask 
fully distended, and w^aved about with consi- 
derable grace, and little appearance of venom. 
The men coquetted with them, and coiled them 
about their persons, without any sign of either 
dislike or fear. This power of dealing with 
creatures so deadly is ascribed by the natives 
to magic. Europeans generally account for it 
by saying that the fangs are extracted. But 
the most reasonable explanation seems to be, 
that when the snake is first caught, by a 
dexterous movement of the charmer, the hand 
is slipped along the body, until it reaches the 
neck, which he presses so firmly, as to compel 
an ejection of the virus ; thus destroying, for a 
time, all power to harm ; and that this opera- 
tion is repeated as often as is necessary, to 
prevent the dangerous accumulation. If this 
be true — and I believe it is — nothing is neces- 



SERPENT CHARMING. 19 

sary to the safe handling of these reptiles, but 
a knowledge of the laws which regulate the 
venomous secretion. The wonder seems to lie 
in the power they possess of attracting the 
snakes by their rude music, and seizing them 
in the first instance. But enough is known to 
make it evident that, in what all natives and 
many Europeans regard as mj^sterious and 
magical, there is nothing but experience, tact, 
and courage." 

A strange and repulsive feat is thus described 
by the Rev. G. Smith, in his recent work on 
*' China." " Aquei conducted us into a room, 
where he was sitting with his two wives, hand- 
somely attired, looking from a window on the 
crowd assembled in the street to witness the 
performances of a native juggler. The latter, 
after haranguing the crowd with miich anima- 
tion in the Nanking dialect, (as is usual with 
actors,) proceeded to one part of the crowd, 
and took thence a child, apparently five or six 
years old, who, with struggling resistance, was 
led . into the centre of the circle. The man 
then, with impassioned gesture, violently threw 
the child on a wooden stool, and, placing him 
on his back, flourished over him a large knife ; 
the child all the time sobbing and crying as if 
from fright. Two or three older men from the 
crowd approached, with earnest remonstrances 
against the threatened deed of violence. For a 
time, he desisted, but, soon after, returning to 
the child, who was ^till uttering most pitiable 
cries, he placed him with his back upwards. 



20 MAGIC. 

and, notwithstanding the violent protests of the 
seniors, he suddenly dashed the knife into the 
back of the child's neck, which it appeared to 
enter till it had almost divided it from the 
head; the blood meanwhile flowing copiously 
from the wound, and streaming to the ground, 
and over the hands of the man. The struggle 
of the child grew more and more feeble, and at 
last altogether ceased. The man then arose, 
leaving the knife firmly fixed in the child's 
neck. Copper cash was then thrown liberally 
into the ring, for the benefit of the principal 
actors. These were collected by assistants, all 
of them viewing the influx of the coins with 
great delight, and bowing continually to the 
spectators, and reiterating the words, ^ To 
seoz,' * Many thanks.' After a time, the man 
proceeded* towards the corpse, pronounced a 
few words, took away the knife, and called 
aloud to the child. Soon there appeared the 
signs of returning animation. The stiffness of 
death gradually relaxed, and at last he stood 
up amoDg the eager crowd, who closed around 
him, and bountifully rewarded him with cash. 
The performance was evidently one which ex- 
cited dehght in the bystanders, who, by their 
continued shouts, showed their approbation of 
the acting." 

It is almost superfluous to add, that the 
deception consisted in the construotion of the 
blade and the handle of the knife, so that, by 
making a sawing motion on the throat of the 
child, a stream of coloured liquid, resembling 



ABD-EL-KADEU. 



21 



it was said, 
a boy to see 



blood, is pumped out ; a little acting on the 
part of the performer and the child is amply 
sufficient for all the rest. 

Within the last few years, we have had ac- 
counts of a magician in Egypt, first described 
in a valuable work on that country by Mr. 
Lane, which produced an extraordinary im- 
pression. The ma- 
gician, 
caused 

certain persons called 
for, in a little ink, 
placed in his hand, in 
the centre of a double 
magic square, some- 
what like the figure. 
One of the most pro- 
found writers of the 
age even ^vrote : " There will be no lack of 
confidence to pronounce ; and the authority so 
pronouncing will assume the name and tone of 
philosophy, that there was nothing more in the 
whole matter than artful contrivance ; that 
there was no intervention of an intelligent 
agency extraneous to that of the immediate 
ostensible agent. But can this assumption be 
made on any other ground than a prior general 
assiunption that there is no such preternatural 
intervention in the system of the world ? But 
how to know that there is not ? The negative 
decision pronounced in confident ignorance, is 
a conceited impertinence, which ought to be 
rebuked by that philosophy whose oracles it is 



/' 


•'/^ y ^ (y C_ -^ 


-r 


V 




<; 


3 


— 


1 


X 


^ 


rnr» 


^ 

^ 




r 


>- 


-• i> >- ^ C: '^ 



22 MAGIC. 

affecting to utter. For what any man knows, 
or can know, there may be such intervention. 
That it is not incompatible with the constitu- 
tion of the world, is an unquestionable fact 
with the unsophisticated believers in the sacred 
records. And not a few occurrences in later 
history have totally defied every attempt at 
explanation in any other way."* 

And yet sir Gardiner Wilkinson, who sub- 
sequently travelled in Egypt, and visited the 
magician, says : — 

" On going to see him, I was determined to 
examine the matter with minute attention, at 
the same time that I divested myself of every 
previous bias, either for or against his pre- 
tended powers. A party having been made up to 
witness the exhibition, we met, according to 
previous agreement, at Mr. Lewis's house on 
Wednesday evening, the 8th of December. 
The magician was ushered in, and having 
taken his place, we all sat down, some before 
him, others by his side. The party consisted 
of colonel Barnet, our consul-general, Mr. 
Lewis, Dr. Abbott, Mr. Samuel, Mr. Christian, 
M. Prisse, with another French gentleman, and 
myself, four of whom understood Arabic very 
well; so that we had no need of any interpreter. 
The magician, after entering into conversation 
with many of us on different subjects, and dis- 
cussing two or three pipes, prepared for the 
performance. He first of all requested that a 

* Foster's Contributions to the Eclectic Review, vol. i. 
p. 545. 



ABD-EL-KADER. 23 

brazier of live charcoal should be brought him, 
and, in the mean while, occupied himself in 
writing upon a long slip of paper five sentences 
of two lines each, then two others, one of a 
single line, and the other of two, as an invoca- 
tion to the spirits. Every sentence began with 
' Tuyurshoon.' Each was separated from the 
one above and below it by a line, to direct him 
in tearing them apart. A boy was then called, 
who was ordered to sit down before the magi- 
cian. He did so, and the magician having 
asked for some ink from Mr. Lewis, traced 
with a pen on the palm of his right hand a 
double square, containing the nine numbers in 
this order, or in English — making fifteen each 
way; the centre one being five — the evil num- 
ber. This I remarked to the magician, but 
he made no reply. A brazier was brought 
and placed between the magician and the boy, 
who was ordered to look stedfastly into the ink, 
and report what he should see. I begged the 
magician to speak slowly enough to give me 
time to write down every word, which he pro- 
raised to do, without being displeased at the 
request ; nor had he objected, during the pre- 
liminary part of the performance, to my 
attempt to sketch him as he sat. He now 
began an incantation, calling on the spirits by 
the power of * our lord Soolaymau,' with the 
words * tuyurshoon' and ' haderoo' (be present) 
frequently repeated. 

" He then muttered words to himself, and 
tearing apart the different sentences he had 



24 MAGIC. 

written, he put them, one after another, into 
the fire, together with some frankincense. This 
done, he asked the boy if any one had come. 
Boy. * Yes, many.' — Magician. * Tell them 
to sweep.' — B. * Sweep.' — M. ^ Tell them to 
bring the flags.' — B. ^ Bring the flags.' — 
M. ' Have they brought any ?—B. ' Yes.' — 
3L 'O. what colour?' — ^. ^ Green.' — ilf. 
* Say, Bring another.' — B. * Bring another.' — 
31. ' Has it come ?' — B. * Yes, a green 
one.' — M. ' Another.' — B. ' Another.' — 
M. ^ Is it brought ?' — B. * Yes, another 
green one — they are all green.' This boy 
was then sent away, and another was brought, 
who had never before seen the magician, having 
been chosen with another, by Mr. Lewis, on 
purpose ; but after many incantations, incense, 
and long delay, he could see nothing, and fell 
asleep over the ink. The other boy was then 
called in, but he, like the other, could not be 
made to see anything ; and a fourth was 
brought in, who had evidently acted his part 
before.. He first saw a' shadow, and was or- 
dered to ' tell him to sleep ;' and, after the 
flags and the sultan as usual, some one sug- 
gested that lord Fitzroy Somerset should be 
called for. He was described in a white Frank 
dress, a long, high, white hat, black stockings^ 
and white gloves, tall, and standing before him 
with black boots. I asked how he could see his 
stockings with boots ? The boy answered. 
Under his trowsers.' He continued, ' His 
eyes are white, moustaches, no beard, but little 



ABD-EL-K.VDER. 25 

whiskers, and yellow or light hair ; he is thin, 
thin legs, thin arms ; in his left hand he holds 
a stick, and in the other a pipe; he has a black 
handkerchief round his neck, his throat but- 
toned up, his trowsers are long, he wears green 
spectacles/ The magician, seeing some of the 
party smiling at the description and its inac- 
curacies, said to the boy, ' Don't tell lies, boy.' 
To which he answered, ' I do not ; why 
should I ?—M. ' TeU him to go.'— 5. ' Go.' 
Queen Victoria was next called for, w^ho was 
described as short, dressed in black trowsers, 
a white hat, black shoes, white gloves, red coat, 
with lining, and black waistcoat, with w^hiskers, 
but no beard nor moustaches, and holding in 
his hand a glass tumbler. He w^as asked if 
the person were a man or a woman ? He 
answered, ^ A man.' We told the magician 
that it was our queen ! He said, ^ I do not 
know why they should say what is false ; I 
knew she was a woman, but* the boys describe 
as they see.' 

" From the manner in which the questions 
were put, it is very evident that, when a boy is 
persuaded to see anything, the appearances of 
the sweeper, the flags, and the sultan, are the 
result of leading questions. The boy pretends 
or imagines he sees a man or a shadow, and he 
is told to order some one to sweep : he is there- 
fore prepared with his answer ; and the same 
continues to the end, the magician always tell- 
ing him what he is to call for, and consequently 
what he is to see. The descriptions of persons 
3 



26 JIAGIC. 

asked for are almost universally complete 
failures." 

After these and other details, sir Gardiner 
says, " I am decidedly of opinion that the whole 
of the first part is done solely by leading ques- 
tions, and that whenever the descriptions succeed 
in any point, the success is owing to accident, 
or to unintentional prompting in the mode of 
questioning the boys," * 

A subsequent traveller, lord Nugent, places 
the state of the case in a new light : — 

" It is enough to say, that not one person 
whom Abd-el-Kader described bore the small- 
est resemblance to the one named by us ; and 
all those called for were of remarkable appear- 
ance. All the preparations, all the ceremony, 
and all the attempts at description, bore evi- 
dences of such a coarse and stupid fraud, as 
would render any detail of the proceeding, or 
any argument tending to connect it with any 
marvellous power, ingenious art, or interesting 
inquiry, a mere childish waste of time. How, 
then, does it happen, that respectable and 
sensitive minds have been staggered by the 
exhibitions of this impostor ? I think that the 
solution which Mr. Lane himself suggested as 
probable is quite complete. Wlien the exhi- 
bition was over, Mr. Lane had some conversa- 
tion with the magician, which he afterwards 
repeated to us. In reply to an observation of 
Mr. Lane's to him upon his entire failure, the 
magician admitted that ^ he had often failed 
* "Wilkinson's Modern Eg^rpt, vol. i. pp. 218—223. 



ABD-EL-KADER. 27 

since the death of Osman EfFendi ;' — the same 
Osman Eifendi that Mr. Lane mentions in his 
book as having been of the party on every 
occasion on which he had been witness ot 
the magician's art, and whose testimony the 
Quarterly Review cites in support of the 
marvel, which (searching much too deep for 
what lies very near, indeed, to the surface,) it 
endeavours to solve by suggesting the proba- 
bihty of diverse complicated optical combina- 
tions. 

** And, be it again observed, optical combi- 
nations cannot throw oi;ie ray of light upon the 
main difficulty, the means of procuring the 
resemblance required of the absent person. I 
now give Mr. Lane's solution of the whole 
mystery, in his own words, my note of which 
I submitted to him, and obtained his ready 
permission to make public in any way I might 
see fit. This Osman Eifendi, Mr. Lane told me, 
was a Scotchman, formerly serving in a British 
regiment, who was taken prisoner by the 
Egyptian army during our unfortunate expe- 
dition to Alexandria, in 1807; that he was 
sold as a slave, and persuaded to abjure Chris- 
tianity, and profess the Mussulman faith ; that, 
applying his talents to his necessities, he made 
himself useful by dint of some little medical 
knowledge he had picked up on duty in the 
regimental hospital ; that he obtained his liberty 
at the instance of the Sheik Ibraim, (M. Burck- 
hardt,) through the means of Mr. Salt; that, in 
process of time, he became second interpreter 



28 MAGIC. 

of the British consulate ; that Osman was, very 
probably, acquainted, by portraits or otherwise, 
with the general appearance of most Englishmen 
of celebrity, and certainly could describe the 
peculiar dresses of English professions, such as 
army, navy, church, and the ordinary habits of 
persons of different professions in England; 
that, on all occasions when Mr. Lane was 
witness of the magician's success, Osman had 
been present at the previous occasions, had 
heard who should be called . to appear, and so 
had, probably, obtained a description of the 
figure, when it was to be the apparition of 
some private friend of persons present ; that, on 
these occasions, he very probably had some 
pre-arranged code of words, by which he could 
communicate secretly with the magician. To 
this it must be added, that his avowed theory 
of morals was, on all occasions, that ^ we did 
our whole duty if we did what we thought 
best for our fellow-creatures and most agreeable 
to them.' Osman was present when Mr. Lane 
was so astonished at hearing the boy describe 
very accurately, the person of M. Burckhardt, 
with whom the magician was unacquainted, 
but who had been Osman's patron, and who, 
also, knew well the other gentleman whom Mr. 
Lane states in his book that the boy described 
as appearing ill and lying on a sofa, and Mr. 
Lane added that he had, probably^ been asked 
by Osman about that gentleman's health, whom 
Mr. Lane then knew to be suffering under an 
attack of rheumatism. He concluded, there- 



THE MAGICIAN OF CAIRO. 29 

fore, by avowing that there was no doubt in 
his mind, connecting all these circumstances 
^vith the declaration the magician had just 
made, that Osman had been the confederate. 
Thus I have given in Mr. Lane's words, not 
only with his consent, but at his ready offer, 
what he has no doubt is the explanation of the 
whole of the subject which he now feels to 
require no deeper inquiry ; and which has been 
adopted by many as a marvel upon an ex- 
aggerated view of the testimony that he oifered 
in his book before he had been convinced, as 
he now is, of the imposture. I gladly state 
this, on the authority of an enlightened and 
honourable man, to disabuse minds that have 
wandered into serious speculation on a matter 
which I cannot but feel to be quite undeserving 
of it.'** — So true is it, that, while many effects, 
which appear mysterious to the multitude, 
may be explained by those of greater know- 
ledge, others, which, for a time, defy penetra- 
tion, are, at length, clearly exhibited in their 
true light. It becomes us, therefore, carefully 
to examine testimony, to receive that only 
which will bear scrutiny, and to suspend our 
judgment whenever we are unacquainted with 
the whole case. The best of men are prone to 
err; and well is it, if, ceasing from them, we 
have been led by Divine grace to trust im- 
plicitly in the God of truth. 

* Lord Nugent's " Lands Classical and Sacred." 
3* 



CHAPTER III. 

Machirics considered magical in ancient times—itemarkable 
modern automata— Minute engines— The calculating ma- 
chine. 

The light of modern science has revealed to us 
many important secrets. In the dark ages 
there were but few books; it was then the 
fashion to write them in Latin; and as, from 
their costliness, thej could only be obtained 
by men of wealth, so they could be understood 
alone by such as had enjoyed the advan- 
tages of education. Science is now easily 
accessible, but, though it is not necessary for 
us all to become philosophers, there is no good 
reason why people generally should not be 
acquainted with some of the most remarkable 
phenomena of the natural world. The inspired 
psalmist has said, " The works of the Lord are 
great, sought out of all them that have pleasure 
therein ;" and it becomes all, according to their 
means and opportunities, to lay this truth to 
heart. We proceed now to consider some 
effects regarded as magical, which are satisfac- 
torily explained, on natural principles, beginning 
with mechanics. , 
30 



MAGICAL MACHINES. 31 

An ability to construct wonderful or magical 
machines was manifest amono: the ancients. 
Arch^'tas, a native of Tarentuni, in Italv, who 
lived four hundred years before the birth of 
our Lord and Saviour, is said to have made a 
wooden dove, which flew and sustained itself 
for some time in the air. Other clever contriv- 
ances are also mentioned. " A magician," says 
D'Israeli, **was annoyed, as philosophers still 
are, by passengers in the street ; and he, parti- 
cularly so, by having horses led to drink under 
his ^vindow. He made a magical horse of wood, 
according to one of the books of Hermes, 
which perfectly answered his purpose, by 
frightening away the horses, or, rather, the 
grooms ! The wooden horse, no doubt, gave 
some palpable kick." 

It is worthy of remark, that tales of ancient 
times must be received with caution. We 
find it necessary, even at a much later period. 
The tricks which now amuse or astonish the 
populace at a country fair, would be greatly 
exaggerated in a credulous age, and often 
assume even the most portentous colouring. 
Nor is it difficult to guess, and sometimes to 
discover, the stages of similar and great mysti- 
ticarions. The following instance is rather re- 
ii.arkable. On Charles v. entering Nuremberg, 
a celebrated German astronomer, whose real 
name was Johann Mfiller, but who styled him- 
self Regiomontanus, exhibited some automata 
wbi:h he had constructed. These were an 
eagle of wood, which, placed on the gate of the 



32 MECHANICS. 

city, rose up and flapped its wings, while the 
emperor was passing below ; and a flj, made of 
steel, which walked round a table. Now all 
this is sufficiently credible. But what is the 
record of the chroniclers only a few years after ? 
That the wooden eagle sprang from the tower 
and soared in the air; and that the steel fly 
flew three times round the emperor, and then 
alighted buzzing on his hand ! 

In many instances, the mechanism of modern 
times is surprisingly minute. A watchmaker 
in London presented his majesty George m. 
with a repeating watch he had constructed, set 
in a ring. Its size was something less than a 
silver two-pence ; it contained one hundred-and- 
twenty-flve difierent parts, and weighed, alto- 
gether, no more than five pennyweights and 
seven grains ! 

In an exhibition of Maillardet, which the 
writer has seen, the lid of a box suddenly flew 
open, and a small bird of beautiful plumage 
started forth from its nest. The wings fluttered, 
and the bill opening with the tremulous motion 
peculiar to singing birds, it began to warble. 
After a succession of notes, w^hose sound well 
filled a large apartment, it retired to its nest, 
and the lid closed. Its performances occupied 
about four minutes. In the same exhibition 
were an automatic spider, a caterpillar, a mouse, 
and a serpent; all of which exhibited the pecu- 
liar movements of the living creatures. The 
spider was made of steel : it ran on the surface 
of a table for three minutes, and its course 



MINUTE ENGINES. 33 

tended towards the middle of the table. The 
-•Tpent crawled about in every direction, 
'pened its mouth, hissed, and darted forth its 
tongue. 

Several years ago, a watchmaker, residing 
in a town in which the writer lived, made a 
working model of a steam-engine, the packing- 
case of which was a walnut-shell. On showing 
it one day to a gentleman, the machine was 
suddenly stopped, the mechanic remarking, 
'• There is something wrong in one of the safety- 
valves." " Safety-valve !" exclaimed the ob- 
server ; " I have not yet been able to detect the 
fly-wheel!" 

The most curious specimen of minute work- 
manship, however, with which we are ac- 
quainted, is a high-pressure engine, the work 
of a watchmaker having a stand at the 
Polytechnic Institution, and first exhibited in 
1845. Each part was made according to scale, 
it worked by atmospheric pressure, in lieu of 
steam, with the greatest activity, yet it was so 
small, that it stood on a fourpenny-piece, with 
ground to spare, and, with the exception of the 
fly-wheel, it might be covered Avith a thimble. 

D'Alembert describes a flute-player, con- 
structed by Vaucanson, which he saw exhibited 
it. Paris in 1738. The writer has also seen 
one, in which a figure appeared seated, and then 
rose and played a tune, the motions of the 
lingers seeming to accord with the notes. He 
r-annot answer for the music having been pro- 
duced by the movements of the hands of the 



34 MECHANICS, 

automaton. D'Alembert affirms, however, that 
the automaton of Yaucanson really projected 
the air with its lips against the embouchure of 
the instrument, producing the different octaves 
by expanding and contracting their openings, 
giving more or less air, and regulating the 
tones by its fingers, in the manner of living 
performers. The height of the figure, with the 
pedestal, containing some of the machinery, was 
nearly six feet; it commanded three octaves, 
several notes of which musicians find it diflScult 
to produce. Some years ago, two automaton 
flute-players were exhibited in this country, of 
the size of life, which performed ten or twelve 
duets. That they actually played the flute 
might be proved, by placing the finger on any 
hole that was unstopped for a moment by the 
automata. 

M. Vaucanson produced a flageolet-player, 
who beat a tambourine with one hand. The 
flageolet had only three holes, and some notes 
were made by half-stopping these. The lowest 
note Avas produced by a force of wind equal to 
an ounce, the highest by one of fifty-six French 
pounds. A duck was, however, considered to 
be his chef-d'oeuvre; it dabbled in the mire, 
swam, drank, quacked, raised and moved its 
wings, and dressed its feathers with its bill; it 
even extended its neck, took barley from the 
hand and swallowed it, during which process 
the muscles of the neck were seen in motion, 
and it also digested the food by means of 
materials provided for its solution in the 



AUTOMATA. 35 

stomach. The inventor made no secret of the 
machinery, which excited, at the time, great 
admiration. 

Maelzel, the inventor of the metronome, or 
time-measurer, frequently used to aid pupils 
in music, exhibited in Vienna in 1809, 'another 
automaton of singular power; which appeared 
in the uniform of a trumpeter in the Austrian 
dragoon regiment Albert, with his instrument 
placed to his mouth. When the figure was 
pressed on the left shoulder, it played not only 
the Austrian cavalry march, and all the signals 
of that army, but also a march and allegro by 
Weigl, which was accompanied by the whole 
orchestra. The dress of the figure was then 
changed into that of a French trumpeter of the 
guards, when it began to play a French cavalry 
march, all the signals, the march of Dussek, 
and an allegro of Pleyel, accompanied again 
by the full orchestra. Maelzel publicly wound 
up his instrument only twice on the lefl hip. 
The sound of the trumpet was pure and pe- 
culiarly agreeable. 

About thirty years ago, Maillardet exhibited, 
in Spring Gardens, a variety of automata, 
which the writer had an opportunity of seeing 
at a later period. One was the figure of a boy, 
who wrote sentences, and drew certain objects 
with remarkable promptitude and correctness. 
Another was a pianiste, seated at a piano-forte, 
on which she played eighteen tunes. All her 
movements were graceful. Before beginning a 
tune, she made a gentle inclination of the head 



36 JrECHANICS. 

to her auditors; her bosom heaved, and her 
eyes followed the motion of her fingers over 
the finger-board. When the automaton was 
once wound up, it would continue playing for 
an hour; and the principal part of the ma- 
chinery -employed was freely exposed to public 
view. It has been doubted whether the music 
was actually produced by the automaton: since 
the time now referred to, the ^vriter has ex- 
amined another, in which the keys of the in- 
strument w^ere certainly acted upon by the 
touch. 

He has also seen, at various times, several 
very curiously constructed automata : the figure 
of a lady, w4io could walk along a level sur- 
face, throwing out the limbs, and moving 
the head from side to side ; a tippler, who 
could pour out wane from a decanter into a 
glass, open his mouth, and swallow the fluid, 
and thus proceed till the bottle was drained ; 
and a performer on the slack rope, whose ex- 
ceedingly rapid movements of the body, the 
arms, and the head, all consistent and graceful, 
were truly amazing. 

A very beautiful automaton w^as exhibited, 
a few years ago, in Paris, and subsequently in 
London. It appeared in a court suit, sitting 
at a table, in the attitude of writing. Several 
questions, inscribed on tablets, were placed on 
the table on which the whole apparatus stood, 
and visitors might select any one or more at 
pleasure. The tablet, containing a question, on 
being handed to the attendant, was placed in 



AUTOMATA. 37 

a drawer, and, as soon as it was closed, the 
figure traced on paper an appropriate reply. 
On the question being given, *' Who may be 
volatile without a crime ?" the answer Was, 
"A butterfly." And as the figure could draw 
a response as well as write it, when the ques- 
tion was put, " What is the symbol of fidelity ?" 
it drew, in. outline, the form of a greyhound. 
In the same way it proceeded throughout the 
series of questions. 

In some instances, the effect of automata is 
increased by the exhibiter proposing certain 
questions, and receiving responses from the 
figure— as shaking the head, to denote a nega- 
tive; or nodding, to indicate assent. It is 
evident that here the inquiries or remarks are 
thrown in to accord with the motions that the 
figure is contrived to make. When, however, 
a performer, as one has recently done, puts a 
whistle in the mouth of an automaton, and 
then, sitting down by its side, plays a tune on 
a guitar, desiring the figure to accompany him; 
the hasty sounds with which the figure seems 
inclined to begin, the irregularity with which 
it proceeds, and the long and loud closing note. 
may all be easily supplied by some confederate. 
Surprising as are the effects produced by many 
automata, it would be wrong to infer that their 
only results are the wonder of the multitude, 
or gain or applause to their inventors. " They 
gave rise," as sir David Brewster has re- 
marked, "to the most ingenious mechanical 
devices, and introduced, among the higher 
4 



38 MECHANICS. 

order of artists, habits of nice and accurate 
execution in the formation of the most delicate 
pieces of machinery." Those combinations of 
wheels and pinions, which almost eluded ob- 
servation, " reappeared in the stupendous 
mechanism of our spinning-machines and our 
steam-engines. The elements of the tumbling 
puppet were revived in the chronometer, which 
now conducts our navy through the ocean; 
and the shapeless wheel which directed the 
hand of the drawing automaton (of Maillardet,) 
has served, in the present age, to guide the 
movements of the tambouring-engine. Those 
mechanical wonders, which in one century 
enriched only the conjurer who used them, 
contributed in another to augment the wealth 
of the nation; and those automatic toys which 
once amused the vulgar, are now employed in 
extending the power, and promoting the civili- 
sation of our species. In whatever way, in- 
deed, the power of genius may invent or com- 
bine, and to whatever bad or even ludicrous 
purposes that invention or combination may 
be originally applied, society receives a gift 
which it can never lose ; and though the value 
of the seed may not at once be recognised, 
though it may lie long unproductive in the un- 
genial soil of human knowledge, it will, some 
time or other, evolve its germ, and yield to 
mankind its natural and abundant harvest."* 

A singular fact is connected with the early 
history of the Astronomical Society of London. 
* Natural Magic, p. 286. 



CALCULATING MACHINE. 39 

A valuable set of tables, for reducing the ob- 
served to the true places of stars, was in course 
of preparation, at the expense of the society, in- 
cluding above three thousand stars, and compre- 
hending all known to those of the fifth magni- 
tude, inclusive, and all the most useful of the sixth 
and seventh. An incident which now occurred, 
gave rise to one of the most extraordinary of 
modern inventions. To insure accuracy in the 
calculation of certain tables, separate computers 
had been employed; and two members of the 
society having been chosen to compare the re- 
sults, detected so many errors, as to induce one 
of them to express his regret that the work 
could not be executed by a machine. For this, 
the other member, Mr. Babbage, at once re- 
plied, that " this was possible ;" and, persevering 
in the inquiry which had thus suggested itself, 
he produced a machine for calculating tables 
with surprising accuracy. 

The calculating part of the machinery oc- 
cupies a space of about ten feet broad, ten feet 
high, and five feet deep. It consists of seven 
Bteel axes, erected over one another, each of 
them carrying eighteen wheels, five inches in 
diameter, having on them small barrels, and in- 
scribed with the symbols 0, 1 , to 9. The machine 
calculates to eighteen decimal places, true to 
the last figure; but, by subsidiary contrivances, 
it is possible to calculate to thirty decimal 
places. Mr. Babbage has since contrived a 
machine, much more simple in its construction, 
and far more extensive in its application. 



40 MECHANICS. 

In thus enumerating various displays of 
mechanical genius, we are reminded that the 
prophet Isaiah, after describing the diverse 
labours of the husbandman, adds, " This also 
Cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which 
is w^onderful in counsel, and excellent in 
working." In all the evidence we have of 
human talent, then, let us acknowledge that 
" every good gift and every perfect gift is from 
above, and cometh down from the Father of 
lights, with w^hom is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning," Jas. i. 17. Would that 
the gifts of God were always used for the 
Divine glory ! 



CHAPTER IV. 

Terrestrial phenomena— Footmarks on rocks— The Logan 
stone — Sounds in stones— The cave of St. Paul— Atmo- 
spherical phenomena— Intermitting springs— Waters of 
magical power. 

In proceeding to illustrate the operation of 
natural laws, we may look now at some of the 
phenomena connected with the globe we in- 
habit, of which, where little knowledge is pos- 
sessed, erroneous and frequently superstitious 
opinions are still entertained. 

Marvellous tales are often told of rocks. 
There is, for example, a tradition of a noble- 
man being engaged in the chase, or pursued 
by his enemies, without being hurt; whose 
horse left the prints of his feet on a mass of 
stone, over which he passed. But, unhappily 
forlhe tale, other impressions have been ob- 
served besides those of the horse's feet; and it 
is affirmed by various naturalists, deserving of 
credit, that they must have been made by very 
different animals, at a remote period, before 
the stone had completely hardened. Other 
instances of the same kind might easily be 
given. In the British Museum, there is a slab 
liaving similar impressions, obviously produced 
4* 41 



42 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

by the same means. It was dug from a great 
depth ; a mass of stone, many feet in thickness, 
having been formed above the layer which re- 
ceived, in a soft state, the impression from the 
feet of several animals. 

Other impressions, of which we read or hear, 
are nothing more than tricks of art. Such, 
most probably, is the impression of the foot of 
Bud da upon the Peak of Adam, at Ceylon; the 
print of the foot of the idol Gaudama, in the 
Burmese empire, which has been three times 
reproduced ; and most certainly this is the case 
with the so-called impressions of the feet of 
our blessed Lord and Saviour, shown to the 
present day, on Mount Olivet. 

The cave of St. Paul, at Civita Yecchia, the 
former capital of the island of Malta, is an 
excavation, about nineteen feet in height, and 
fifty in circumference ; in a soft, white, lime- 
stone rock, more friable than chalk. A belief 
that the stone was endowed with miraculous 
medical virtues, led people to carry away large 
quantities of it during the sway of the knights. 
In 1770, when visited by Brydone, the cave 
was in the highest celebrity; not only every 
house in the island had a medical chest of it, 
but large quantities were sent to different 
countries in Europe, and even to the East 
Indies. It was supposed to have a miraculous 
power which preserved it from diminution; 
which may be accounted for by a natural law — 
the calcareous process of formation still going 
on — while its healing power is to be attributed 



THE LOGAN STONE. 48 

• its having some of the properties of mag- 
nesia; which leads, according to Dr. Walsh, to 
its still being given as a purgative-sudorific ia 
eruptive or fever complaints. 

One instance of gross superstition, as con- 
nected with rocks, is too important to be 
omitted. The trial by ordeal appears to have 
been very early practised among the Celtic 
tribes of Europe, who were always under the 
influence of an artful and domineering priest- 
hood. Thus, it is said that in cases of doubtful 
accusation the Druids made use of the rocking- 
Stones which were common in Britain, and that 
the culprit was acquitted or condemned accord- 
ing as he succeeded or failed in shaking them. 
Mason alludes to this trial in the following 
lines : — 

" Behold yon hug-e 
And unknown sphere of livinV adamant, 
AVhich, poised by magic, rests its central weight 
On yonder pointed rock ; lirm as it seems, 
Such is its strange and virtuous property. 
It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch 
Of him whose heart is pure ] but to a traitor, 
Thoujfh e'en a giant's prowess nerved his arm, 
It stands as fixed as Snowdon." 

A little knowledge would have disabused the 
mind of this delusion. The celebrated Logan 
or Logging-stone, near the Land's End in 
Cornwall, is an immense block, weighing about 
sixty tons. The surface in contact with the 
under rock is, however, of very small extent; 
and the whole mass is so nicely balanced, that, 
notwithstanding its magnitude, the strength of 
a single man is sufficient to make it oscillate, 



44 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

when applied to the under edge. It is the 
nature of granite to disintegrate or decompose 
by the action of the air and moisture; a huge 
mass is thus split into several blocks, and at 
length, by the continued operation of the 
elements, one is suspended on the rest. 



Sounds emitted from rocks have often been 
regarded as portentous. Mr. G. Bennett, when 
at Macao, had his attention directed to a mass 
of granite rocks, appearing as if separated by 
some convulsion of nature, many of which 
were found, when trodden on, to be movable. 
The first, and by far the most sonorous, was 



THE MOUNTAIN OF THE BELL. 45 

partially excavated underneath; and, by strik- 
ing it upon the upper part, a deep sound, *'like 
that of a church bell," was produced. " The 
battered appearance of the stone above," it is 
said, " bore several proofs of how many visitors 
had made this lion roar." Many of the other 
rocks were also sonorous, but not so loud as the 
first, and, from their situations, "they were mov- 
able when trodden on; but it could not be seen, 
whether, Hke the preceding, they were excavated, 
and, in consequence of being so, sonorous." 

In the chain of El-Heman, and not far from 
the Red Sea, is the Jebal Narkous, or " Moun- 
tain of the Bell." It forms one of a ridge of 
low calcareous hills, which are connected by a 
sandy plain, extending, with a gentle rise, to 
their base. It is composed of a light-coloured 
friable sandstone, about the same as the rest of 
the chain; but an inclined plane of almost im- 
palpable sand rises at an angle of about forty 
degrees with the horizon, and is bounded by a 
semi-circle of rocks, presenting broken, abrupt, 
and pinnacled forms, and extending to the base 
of this remarkable hill. Its height is about 
four hundred feet. 

Lieutenant Wellsted observed, that the shape 
and arrangement of the rocks resembled, in 
some respects, a whispering -gallery; but he 
ascertained, by experiment, that their irregular 
surface rendered them but ill-adapted for the 
production of an echo. Seated on a rock at the 
base of the sloping eminence, he directed a 
Bedouin to ascend ; and it was not till he had 



46 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

reached some distance that the lieutenant per« 
ceived the sand in motion, rolHng down the hill to 
the depth of a foot. It did not, however, descend 
in one continued stream, but, as the Arab 
scrambled upwards, it -spread out laterally and 
above, until a considerable portion of the sur- 
face was in motion. As the sand began to fall, 
the sounds produced might be compared to the 
faint strains of an Eolian harp when its strings 
first catch the breeze. When the sounds be- 
came more violently agitated by the increased 
velocity of the descent, the noise more nearly 
resembled that produced by drawing the moist- 
ened fingers over glass. As it reached the base, 
the reverberations attained the loudness of 
distant thunder, causing the rock on which 
lieutenant Wellsted was seated to vibrate; 
and the camels, animals not easily frightened, 
became so alarmed, that their drivers could 
only retain them with difficulty. The noise, it 
was remarked, did not issue from every part of 
the hill alike, the loudest being produced by 
disturbing the sand on the northern side, about 
twenty feet from the base, and about ten from 
the rocks that bound it in that direction. The 
tradition is, that the bells of a convent were 
buried here ; the Bedouins trace the sounds to 
several wild and fanciful causes; but, in the 
experiment now described, it was evident that 
the sounds sometimes fell quicker on the ear, 
and at other times were more prolonged, ac- 
cording to the Arab's increasing or retardinjr 
the velocity of his descent. 



VIBRATIONS. 47 

Dr. Chladni made many curious experi- 
ments on the figures assumed by sand and 
similar substances, when strewed over vibrating 
sonorous bodies. The reader may easily try an 
experiment of this kind. Let a square piece of 
glass be taken, such as that used ibr windows, 
not less than four or five inches over, tlie edges 
of which are to be smoothed by grinding. Spread 
over the plate, as evenly as possible, a little 
sand, and, holding it between the thumb and 
fore-finger, in the middle, pass the bow of a 
violin against one of its edges, drawing it either 
upwards or downwards, in a direction perpen- 
dicular to its surface. A tremulous motion 
will be immediately observed, and the sand 
will assume some particular and fixed figure. 
If the bow be passed over the middle of one 
of the sides, the sand will arrange itself in the 
direction of the two diagonals, dividing the 
square into four isosceles triangles. If the bow 
be applied at any point which is one-fourth the 
length of the square from any angle, the 
arrangement of the sand will represent the two 
diameters of the square, dividing it into four 
equal figures of the same ibrm. If the square 
be held at the two extremities of either dia- 
meter, and the bow be applied to the extremities 
of the other diameter, the sand will take the 
figure of an oval, having its major axis in the 
same direction as one of the diameters. 

Other experiments of the same kind have 
since been made by M. Voigt, and also by the 
celebrated Oersted. The latter covered a plate 



48 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

of metal or glass with the Ijcopodium seed, or 
the seed of the club-moss, instead of sand ; 
he then tried to produce a sound in the 
manner of Chladni, and instantly he saw the 
dust distribute itself into a number of little 
regular tumuli, which put themselves in motion 
at their extremities, or formed the figures dis- 
covered by this naturalist. They always 
ranged themselves in the form of a curve, the 
convexity of which was in proportion to the 
point touched by the violin bow, or towards 
the point which has an analogous situation; 
the nearer that each of these little heaps was 
to these points, the greater was its height, a cir- 
cumstance which gave remarkable regularity 
to the figure. The interior of the small eleva- 
tions thus obtained, were in constant motion 
during the continuance of the sound, and the 
duration of the vibrations might be observed 
on a plate from four to six inches in diameter. 
At one moment the height increased, at another 
it diminished, and the dust had the appearance 
of arranging itself in small globules, which 
rolled one above another. 

We may now return from these very inter- 
esting facts, to others on a far larger scale. 
Near the Kom-el-Hett'an, or the mound of 
sand-stone, which makes the site of one of 
the palaces and temples of Amunoph ui., are 
two sitting colossi, which seem to assert the 
grandeur of ancient Thebes. The easternmost 
of the two is doubtless the statue reported by 
ancient authors to utter a sound at the rising 



COLOSSUS AT THEBES. 49 

of the sun. It was said to resemble the break- 
ing of a metallic ring, or harp-string. The 
superstition of its Roman visitors ascribed the 
colossus to Memnon, and a multitude of inscrip- 
tions attributed to him miraculous powers. 
The memory of its daily performance is still 
retained in the traditional appellation of Sala- 
mat, " salutations," by the modern inhabitants 
of Thebes. It is said to have '* saluted" the 
emperor Adrian and his queen Sabina twice ; 
but some persons, of course of humble rank, 
were disappointed on their first visit, and 
obliged to return another morning to satisfy 
their curiosity. 

And yet there is ample reason to believe that 
the whole was an artifice of the priests. In 
the lap of the statue is a stone ; and as sir 
Gardiner Wilkinson discovered, on examining 
the inscriptions, that one Ballilia had compared 
the sound the stone emitted, when struck, to 
the striking of brass, he determined to put the 
matter to the test. Accordingly, posting some 
peasants below, and ascending to the lap of the 
statue, he struck the sonorous block with a 
small hammer, and inquiring what was heard 
by the peasants, they answered, " You are 
stjiking brass." ^' This," says sir Gardiner, 
" convinced me that the sound was the sound 
that deceived the Romans, and led Strabo to 
observe that it appeared to him as the effect of 
a slight blow." ^' The Theban priests," he 
adds, " must have been considerable gainers by 
the credulity of those who visited their //o^j." 
6 



50 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

The reader who may have taken the delight- 
ful walk from Tunbridge Wells to the High 
"Rocks, and examined particularly those huge 
masses, will not fail to remember the one called 
*' the Bell Rock." On entering the space between 
this one and the next, it may be struck wdth a 
stick, when a sound will be heard like that pro- 
duced, on a large metallic body being smitten. 

In the road cut by Napoleon between Savoy 
and France, and about two miles from Les 
Echelles, there is a gallery twenty-seven feet 
high and broad, and nine hundred and sixty 
feet in length, formed in the solid rock. When 
this road was nearly complete, and the excava- 
tions commenced at each end almost met, the 
partition was broken through by a pick-axe, 
and a loud and deep sound was heard. We 
are indebted to Mr. Bake well for the following 
solution of this phenomenon. The mountain 
rises full one thousand feet above the passage, * 
and fifteen hundred above the valley. The air, 
on the eastern side of the mountain, is sheltered 
both on the south and west from the sun's 
rays; and consequently must be much colder 
than on the western side. The mountain, 
therefore, formed a partition between the hot 
air of the valley, and the cold air of the ravines 
on the eastern side. When the opening was 
made, the cold, and therefore denser air, rushed 
into that rarefied by heat, and a loud report 
was produced, in the same manner as when a 
bladder, placed over an exhausted air-pump 
receiver, is burst. 



SUBTERRANEAN SOUNDS. 61 

Baron Humboldt informs us, on credible 
authority, that subterranean sounds, resembling 
the tones of an organ, are heard on the banks 
of the Oroonoko. He supposes that they arise 
from a difference of temperature between the 
external atmosphere and the air confined in the 
crevices of the adjacent granitic rocks. He 
concludes that, as the temperature of the con- 
fined air is greatly increased during the day 
from the conduction of heat by the rocks ; and 
as the difference of temperature between it and 
the atmosphere will reach its maximum about 
sunrise, the sounds are produced by the escap- 
ing current. 

The following illustrative experiment is not 
a little curious : — If a tube formed of some 
elastic and sonorous substance be taken, and a 
jet of iniiamed hydrogen be introduced, a 
musical sound will be heard. This will take 
place in a tube closed at one end, if it be large 
enough to admit a sufficient quantity of atmo- 
spheric air to support the combustion of the 
gas ; but if the tube be open at both extremi- 
ties, the musical sound \vill be clear and full. 
Various conclusions have been arrived at in 
reference to this phenomenon; but they have 
been set aside by the experiments of Mr. Fara- 
day, who attributes the sounds produced by 
flames in tubes to a continual series of detona- 
tions or explosions. 

The first philosopher who exhibited the 
longitudinal vibration of solids was Dr. Chladni. 
According to him, the best method of pro- 



52 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

ducing these vibrations in rods, is by rubbing 
them, in the direction of their length, with 
some soft substance, covered with powdered 
resin, or by the finger. ' When glass tubes are 
employed, they should be rubbed with a piece 
of rag spread over with fine sand, the tube 
being held by one of the ends. 

" In all longitudinal vibrations," says the 
same writer, "the tones depend merely on 
the length of the sonorous body, and on the 
quality of the substance, the thickness and 
form being of no consideration ; yet the tones 
are not varied by the specific gravity of the 
vibrating substance ; for fir-wood, glass, and 
iron, give almost the same tone as brass, oak, 
and the shanks of tobacco-pipes." He also 
mentions several kinds of longitudinal vibra- 
tion ; in one, to use his own words, " there is a 
certain point in the middle at which the vibra- 
tion of each half-stops ; in the next there are 
two, each at the distance of a fourth part from 
the end ; and, in the following, there are three, or 
more. The tones correspond with the natural 
series of the numbers 1,2,3, 4, etc. If a rod 
be fastened at one end, during the first kind of 
longitudinal vibration, the alternate expansion 
and contraction of the whole rod will take place 
in such a manner, that they stop at the fixed 
end ; in the next tone there is a resting-point 
at the distance of one-third from the free end ; 
and in the following there are two. The tones 
correspond wdth the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 
the first of these tones is an octave lower than 



THE EUPHONE. 53 

the first tone of the same rod when perfectly 
free." 

When examining the niiture of sonorous 
bodies, Dr. Chhidni imagined the possibility of 
producing musical sounds by rubbing glass 
tubes longitudinally. It, however, became a 
difficult question to determine in what way an 
instrument of this kind should be constructed. 
After much and long-continued unsuccessful 
thought, he returned home one evening ex- 
hausted with walking, and he had scarcely 
closed his eyes to fall asleep in his chair, when 
the arrangement he had so long been seeking, 
occurred to his mind. He soon after completed 
an instrument, which in every respect an- 
swered his expectations. 

The euphone, signifying an instrument hav- 
ing a pleasant sound, consists of forty-one fixed 
and parallel cylinders of glass, equal in length 
and thickness. In its external appearance it 
resembles a small writing-desk, which, when 
opened, presents a series of glass tubes about 
sixteen inches long, and the thickness of a 
quill. They are fixed in a perpendicular 
sounding-board, at the back of the instrument. 
When used, the tubes are Avetted with a 
sponge, and stroked in the direction of their 
length with wet fingers; the intensity of the 
tone being varied by greater or less pressure. 

The singular phenomenon of sound occa- 
sioned by the vibration of soil iron, produced 
by a galvanic current, was recently discovered 
by Mr. Sage, and has been since verified by 
5* 



54 TERRESTSIAL FHEHQMEHA. 

the observations of a French philosopher, MI 
^[arian. The experiments were made on a bar 
of iron, which was fixed at the middle, in a 
horizontal position, each half being inclosed in 
a large glass tnbe. Bt appropriate arrange- 
ments, the galvanic circle was completed : and 
the longimdinal sonnd could be distinguished, 
aMiongh it was feeble. The origin of the 
sonnd has therefore been ascribed to a yi- 
bradon in the interior of the iron bar; and to 
the same cause are probably attributable man j 
phenomena. 

We now pass on to the violent agitation of 
the air, which is oilen productive of surprising 
results. A quantity of feathers, for example, 
was scattered one day over the market-place of 
Yarmouth, to the great astonishment of a large 
number of persons assembled there. But what 
was the cause ? The timid considered that the 
phenomenon predicted some great calamity; 
the inqnisitive indulged in a thousand conjec- 
tures : and the curious in natural history sagely 
accormted for it by a gale of wind in the north, 
blowing wild-fowl feathers from the island of 
St. Paul's ! Yet, not one of them was right. 
No guess would explain the cause, and yet it 
arose from the prank of a fioUcsome boy. 
Afitley, afterwards well known as sir Astley 
Cooper, had taken two of his mother's pillows 
to die top of the church, and when he had 
climbed as far as he could up the steeple, he 
ripped them open, and scattered their contents 
to the wind. 



THE WIND. 56 

The Philosophical Magazine contains an ac- 
count of a sinfrular snow phenomenon that 
occurred in Orkney. The paper was contri- 
buted by Mr. Clouston, of Stromness. " One 
night a heavy fall of snow took place, which 
covered the plain to a depth of several inches. 
* Upon this pure carpet/ says the writer, * there 
rested next morning thousands of large masses 
of snow, which contrasted strangely with its 
smooth surface/ These occurred generally in 
patches, from one acre to a hundred in extent, 
while clusters were often half-a-mile asunder. 
The fields so covered looked as if they had 
been scattered over with cart-loads of manure, 
and the latter covered with snow ; but, on 
examination, the masses were all found to be 
cylindrical, like hollow fluted rollers, or ladies' 
swan-down muffs, bearing a strong resem- 
blance to the latter. The largest measured 3^ 
feet long, and 7 feet in circumference. The 
centres were nearly but not quite hollow; and 
by placing the head within when the sun was 
bright, the concentric structure of the cylinder 
was apparent. They did not occur in any of 
the adjoining parishes, and were limited to a 
space of about five miles. The first idea, as to 
the origin of these bodies, Avas, that they had 
fallen from the clouds, and portended some 
direful calamity. But, had they fallen from the 
atmosphere, their symmetry and loose texture 
must have been destroyed. The writer having 
examined them, was soon convinced that they 



56 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

had been formed by the wind rolHng up the 
snow as boys form snow-balls. Their round 
form, concentric structure, fluted surface, and 
position with respect to the weather side of 
eminences, proved this ; and it was also evident, 
from the fact of their lying lengthways, with 
their sides to the wind ; and sometimes their 
tracks were visible in the snow for twenty or 
thirty yards in the windward direction, whence 
they had evidently gathered up their concentric 
layers." 

A correspondent of the AthencBum, in a 
letter, dated Naples, January 3rd, 1847, men- 
tions another very striking phenomenon. He 
was standing on a cliff overlooking the Medi- 
terranean, accompanied by an Italian friend. 
The air was perfectly tranquil, and yet in a 
moment he felt himself grasped and encircled, 
as it were^ by an unseen and irresistible power, 
and, in spite of his struggles, he felt himself 
sailing through the air at a balloon speed. 
After a few moments of his aerial travelling, he 
was pitched halfway down the cliff into the 
centre of an empty lime-kiln, not far from the 
sea. Nor was he alone ; there was another 
heavy fall ; for his friend stood opposite him. 
As they were encircled by a force, equal at all 
points, though the shock was violent, they feU 
on their feet, but sank directly to the ground, 
and there sat gazing at one another, unable 
either to move or speak. Happily, no bones 
were broken ; but so severe were the internal 



THE WATER-SPOUT. 57 

injuries experienced, as to confine them to tlieir 
beds for some time, and they ex|)ect the inter- 
nal effects of their invoUintary and dangerous 
voyage to remain for a considerable time. 

As the population of the coasts of the Medi- 
terranean are exceedingly ignorant and super- 
stitious, it is not surprising that the people in 
the neighbourhood said that the Shal'ombre, 
the evil spirits, in the lime-kiln, must have 
drawn the travellers in ; and attributed their 
deliverance to the intercession of the souls in 
purgatory for the acts of charity they had 
performed ! 

To avoid any calamities, which the mariners 
of Naples generally attribute to demoniacal 
influence, they resort to the practice of Avitch- 
craft. Few are the barks that venture to the 
coral fishery, or the coasting-trade, without 
having a magician on board. Persons of this 
class, however, who practise the art supposed 
to be required at sea, or who even reveal it to 
others, cannot receive absolution from an ordi- 
nary confessor. It is comprehended under the 
head of " malaficia," one of the reserved sins 
to be found in the printed list of directions 
appended to every confessional in Italy. 

And yet, were witchcraft available in any 
case, it could not be in connexion with the 
natural operation, which the mariners call 
• " tronibe di mare." The travellers suffered, in 
fact, from a strong wind, connected with the 
])henomenon of a waters pout, observed, for the 
most part, at sea, but sometimes also on shore. 



58 TEBRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

Its usual appearance is that of a dense cloud, 
like a conical pillar, which seems to consist of 
condensed vapour, and is seen to descend -with 
the apex downwards. When over the sea, there 
are generally two cones, one projecting from 
the cloud, the other from the water below it. 
They sometimes unite, and then a flash of 
lightning is observed; on other occasions, they 
disperse before any junction takes place. The 
effect appears to be, at least partly, electrical; 
the cones being in opposite states, the positive 
and negative attraction ensue ; and, when union 
takes place, which is indicated by the flash, 
the bodies are restored to their equihbrium. 

The magicians on the coast practise what 
they call the art of ^' cutting" the " trombe." 
As soon as it is seen approaching in the direc- 
tion of a boat, the wizard goes forward, sends all 
the crew aft, that they may not be eye-witnesses 
of what he does ; and using certain signs or 
words, and making a movement with his arms 
as if in the act of cutting, the enemy falls in 
two, and disappears. 

We are reminded by these circumstances 
of " the news from the country," which the 
Spectator describes as brought to him by sir 
Eoger de Coverley. One part of it was, that 
Moll White was dead, and that about a month 
after one of the baronet's barns fell down, which 
led to the shrewd remark : " I do not think the 
old woman had anything to do with it." Nor 
do we think that the wizard of the Mediter- 
ranean has anything to do with " cutting the 



THE ILISSUS. 59 

wind." The probability is, that he seiz«'s on 
the time for his movements, which, from expe- 
rience, he knows to precede the dispersion of the 
cloud, and thus acquires credit to which he lias 
not the slightest claim. 

This chapter may appropriately be concluded 
by a reference to the waters of the earth, which 
are often represented as endued with a super- 
natural power. The Ilissus, rising on Mount 
Hymettus, to the east of Athens, and overflow- 
ing its banks, furnishes a supply of excellent 
water to the monastery of Sergiaai. On one side, 
are three small caverns in the rock, with double 
entrances ; apparently the work of nature, but 
probably aided by art. They are still sup- 
posed, as they have been during past ages, to 
have a mystic virtue ; and ** no remedy," says 
Dodwell, is considered so efficacious for a sick 
child as " to drag it two or three times from one 
cave to another; by which it is either killed or 
cured. Several ancient wells are observed in 
the rock on each side of the river. Near these, 
the foundation of a wall crosses the bed of the 
Ilissus." 

Springs, in various parts of this and other 
countries, alternately ebbing and flowing, have 
been, and are still, in some cases, supposed to 
be under the ban of witchcraft. And yet the 
phenomena are easily explained by natural 
laws. If the shorter end of a bent tube, a, w^hose 
branches are of an unequal length, be placed in 
a basin of water, and the air is drawn from it, 
we have a syphon, which will decant the wa er 



60 TERRESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 

into any vessel. Now such tubes as these 
are naturally formed in the earth, and if the 
water be drained into a cavity, B, having a 
syphon-like channel, c, it is evident that it will 
flow as long as the syphon can act, and it will 
then cease. 




Seneca describes a spring near to Tempe, 
in Thessaly, the waters of which are fatal to 
animals, and penetrate iron and copper. Yet, 
it is probable, as Dr. Thomson states, that 
" this spring contained either free sulphuric 
acid, or a highly acidulous salt of that acid. 
This acid has been detected in a free state, as 
well as hydrochloric acid, in the water of the 
Eio Vindagre, which descends from the volcano 
of Paraie, in Columbia, South America. Sul- 
phuric acid is also found in the waters of other 
volcanic regions. The sour springs of Byron, 
in the Genessee country, about sixty miles 
south of the Erie canal, contain sulphuric acid. 



SPRINGS. 61 

Such waters would rapidly corrode both iron 
and copper, converting the former into green, 
the latter into blue vitriol — sulphates of both 
metals."* 

It would be easy to extend these instances, 
in connexion with the phenomena of the globe, 
but the present will suffice to show that a little 
knowledge of natural science is an antidote 
to many superstitions. We proceed now to 
illustrations of agencies in active operation of 
a different character. 

* Philosophy of Magic. 

6 



CHAPTER V. 

Chemical wonders— Ice obtained in a red-liot vessel— The 
corpse candles of Wales — Luminous appearances aftei 
death — Sadoomeh the magician— The laughing s:as — Sul- 
phuric ether— Chloroform— Gunpowder compared with 
gun-cotton. 

The word chemistry is, probably, derived from 
a Coptic root, signifying obscure or secret; and 
the German word geheim is traced to the same 
origin. The objects of this department of 
science are, to investigate the nature and pro- 
perties of the elements of matter and their 
mutual actions and combinations; to ascertain 
the proportions in which they unite and the 
modes of separating them when united ; and to 
inquire into the laws which affect and rule these 
agencies. A few of the wonders connected 
with this science may, therefore, appropriately 
follow the terrestrial phenomena which have 
just been considered. 

The Romish church has rendered chemistry 
available in connexion with one of its prodigies, 
the so-called blood of St. Januarius. A substance 
is shown to the deluded worshippers in a phial, 
appearing in a congealed state ; but, as masses 
are performed by the priests, it becomes fluid. 

62 



ROMISH DELUSION. 68 

The illusion practised in this case may, how- 
ever, be easily effected by reddening snip) i uric 
ether with orchanet, the onosma of Linnaeus, and 
then saturating the tincture with spermaceti. 
This preparation is solid at ten degrees above 
the freezing point, and melts and boils at twenty 
degrees. Let the phial which contains it when 
coagulated, be held in the hand for a few min- 
utes, and the temperature of the substance 
rises, and it becomes fluid. Even the warmth 
of a public assembly is sufficient for this pur- 
pose. 

Marcus, the chief of one of the sects in the 
second century, who wished to amalgamate 
with Christianity the doctrines and rules of 
pagan rites, filled with white wine three cups 
of transparent glass; and, while he was pray- 
ing, the liquid in one of the cups became like 
blood ; in another, of a purple colour ; and 
in the third, sky-blue. But these effects might 
easily be produced by chemical action. Pro- 
fessor Beyruss, at the court of the duke of 
Brunswick, promised that his white dress should 
become red during a repast; and the change 
took place, to the astonishment of the prince 
and his guests. M. Vogel, who relates this 
fact, does not reveal the means employed; but 
observes that, by pouring lime-water on the 
juice of beet-root, a colourless liquid is obtained, 
that a piece of cloth dipped in it and quickly 
dried becomes red in a few hours by the contact 
of the air alone; and that this effect may be 
accelerated in a room where champagne and 



64 CHEMICAL WONDERS, 

other beverages charged with carbonic acid 

gas are abundantly used. Still more rapidly 
might the change be effected in some temple, 
in the midst of rising incense and burning 
torches ; and the veil which covered things 
deemed sacred, might thus have been seen to 
change from wliite to the colour of blood — a 
presage of fearful disasters. 

A series of remarkable experiments was per- 
formed by professor Boutigny, at the British 
Association at Cambridge, in 1845. He com- 
menced by showing, that when cold water is 
poured on a hot metallic surface, the heat is not 
communicated to it ; and that the water assumes 
a spheroidal form, and continues to roll about, 
upheld at a minute distance from the heated 
surface, without boiling. The water was poured 
into a hot platinum cup kept in rapid motion, 
and resembled a small globe of glass dancing 
about. There was no hissing noise nor appear- 
ance of steam, though the globule of water 
must, nevertheless, have evaporated rapidly; 
for, after gradually diminishing in size, in the 
course of about two minutes it disappeared. 
The same result takes place when any substance 
capable of assuming a globular form is placed 
on a heated surface. In proof of this, the pro- 
fessor placed in the heated cup of platinum, 
iodine, ammonia, and some inflammable sub- 
stances; each of which became globular, and 
danced about like the globule of water, but 
without emitting smell or vapour, or being 
inflamed, until the platinum cup was cooled. 



ICE IN RED-HOT VESSELS. 65 

Another experiment was yet more curious. 
Professor Boutigny heated a silver weight, of 
the same shape as the weight of a clock, until 
it was red-hot, and then lowered it by a wire 
into a glass of cold water, without there being 
any more indication of action in the water than 
if the weight had been quite cold. Professor 
Boutigny advanced no theory to a^ccount* for 
these peculiar actions, further than that a film 
of vapour intervenes between the heated body 
and the substance, which prevents the com- 
munication of heat. The facts, however, he 
thought were of importance in a practical point 
of view, both as regards the tempering of 
metals, and in the explanation of the causes 
of steam-boiler explosions. It would seem, 
from experiments in tempering metals, that, if 
the metal be too much heated, the effect of 
plunging it into water wJll be diminished. In 
steam-boilers, also, if the heated water be in- 
troduced into a heated surface, the he^t may 
not be communicated to the water, and the 
boiler may become red hot, and without any- 
great emission of steam; until, at length, when 
the boiler cools, a vast quantity of steam would 
become suddenly generated and the boiler 
burst. 

The last and most curious experiment per- 
formed by professor Boutigny, was the freezing 
of water in a red-hot vessel. Having heated a 
platinum cup red-hot, he poured into it a small 
quantity of water, which was kept in a globular 
form, as in the other experiments. He then 



66 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

poured into the cup some liquid sulphurous 
acid; when a sudden evaporation ensued, and, 
on quickly inverting the cup, there came out a 
small mass of ice. The principle of this ex- 
periment, which called forth loud and continued 
applause, is this: — sulphurous acid has the 
property of boiling water when it is at a tem- 
perature below the freezing point; and, when 
poured into the heated vessel, the suddenness of 
the evaporation occasions a degree of cold suffi- 
cient to freeze water. 

Liquid carbonic acid takes a high position 
for its freezing qualities. Mr. Adams, of 
Kensington, manufactures this curious liquid as 
an article of commerce, and has, occasionally, 
as much as nine gallons of it in store. In 
drawing it from its powerful reservoirs, it 
evaporates so rapidly as to freeze, and it is then 
a light porous mass, like snow. If a small 
quantity of this is drenched with ether, the 
degreeiDf cold produced is even more intolerable 
to the touch than boiling water ; a drop or two 
of the mixture producing blisters, just as if the 
skin had been burned ! IMr. Adams states 
that, in eight minutes he has frozen a mass of 
mercury weighing ten pounds. 

In one department of knowledge — that of 
vapours and gases — on which chemistry casts 
so much light, we discover many remarkable 
phenomena. Few persons have resided, for ex- 
ample, in the fenny and swampy districts of our 
island, without seeing, at least occasionally, the 
ignis fatuus, Will-o'-the-wisp, or Jack-o'-lantern, 



wii.L-0 -THE-msp. 67 

hovering a few feet above the surface of sta-^nant 
■ Iter. ° 

" Wild fires dancing o'er the heath," 

may be observed, indeed, at ahnost all times of 
the year, but it is chieflv in autumn, and par- 
ticularly in November, ihut they flit in mazy 
circles and irregular evolutions; sometimes at 
the edge of a morass, over the tops of withered 
sedges, reeds, and brushwood; and, at others 
over pahngs and hedgerows, or the still surface 
OT the oozy bog. 

It has been argued by some, that they are 
effects produced by luminous insects, as the 
glow-worm the gnat, and the mole-cricket. 
iJut this theory is very unsatisfactory, and the 
cause which is now generally acknowledged to 
be the real one, is far more natural. There is 
a substance readily obtained, but of very offen- 
sive odour, called phosphoret of lime; and, if a 
piece of this be taken and dropped into a pool 
of water, little flames will be seen on its surfece 
Ihese anse from the power of the substance to 
decompose water, in consequence of which, the 
hydrogen ascends to the surface, and ignites on 
coming in contact with the air. 
. ^'■- Weissenborn has given the following 
interesting statements : — '< In the year 1818 
I was fortunate enough to get a fine view 
ot the ignes fatui operating on an extensive 
scale. I wa,s then at Schnepfenthal, in the 
duchy of Gotha; and in a clear November 
night, between eleven and twelve o'clock, when 



68 CHEmCAL WONDERS. 

I had just undressed, the bright moonshine 
alhired me to the window, to survey the expanse 
of boggy meadows, which spread two or three 
EngHsh miles in length, a quarter-of-a-mile from 
the foot of the hillock on which the house in 
which I then was, is standing. Through the first 
third of the meadows there vras a winding rivulet, 
of the breadth of seven or eight feet, which then 
turns off into an artificial bed, whilst the old 
bed continues in the direction of the meadows, 
which are bounded on one side by a range of 
brushwood, and on the other by cultivated 
grounds, with marshy dells here and there. My 
intimate acquaintance with the locality, together 
with the bright moonshine, enabled me to dis- 
cover every object round the meadow-ground, 
sufiiciently well to judge of the position and 
direction of the luminous phenomena, the dis- 
play of which I saw as soon as I had posted 
myself at the window. I perceived a number 
of reddish yellow flames on different parts of the 
expanse of almost level ground. I descried, 
perhaps, no more than six at a time, but dying 
away and appearing in other places so rapidly, 
that it was impossible to count them; but I 
should say, on a rough calculation, there were 
about twenty or twenty-five within a second. 
Some were small and burned dimly; others 
flashed with a bright flame, in a direction 
almost parallel with the ground, and coinciding 
with that of the wind, w^hich ^vas rather brisk. 
After having for some time looked with amaze- 
ment at the brilliant scene, as a whole, I tried 



will-o'-the-wisp. 69 

to study its details, and soon found that the 
flames whicli^ were nearest originated in a 
quagmire, the position of which I knew exactly, 
by a solitary cluster of willows; and I could 
trace a succession of flashes from that spot to a 
certain point of the margin of the wood across 
the" rivulet and meadow. The distance of the 
two points from each other was more than half- 
a-mile, and the flames travelled over it, perhaps, 
in less than a second. The flrst flash was not 
always observed in the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the quagmire; but the succession of 
flames lay always in the same straight line, and 
in the direction of the wind; whilst other sets 
were observed, though not with the same dis- 
tinctness, in the more distant parts of the 
meadow-ground. 

" After about an hour, a bank of mist began 
to overspread the meadows, but I saw the light 
still glimmering through it, whilst I dressed 
myself, in order to examine the phenomenon in 
its laboratory. However, when I reached the 
meadows, the atmospheric conditions which 
gave rise to the ignes fatui had ceased to exist." 
Weissenborn then expresses his belief that the 
phosphoric hydrogen gas, exhaled by certain 
swamps, is kindled into flame by coming in 
contact with the atmospheric air; but, as the 
liydrogen is not saturated with phosphorus, (the 
greater portion of the latter being precipitated 
in passing through the water as red oxide of 
phosphorus,) there is a certain electric condition 
of the atmosphere necessary to cause the com- 



70 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

bustion. Thus, under common circumstances, 
tlie gas is evolved and dissipated without being 
observed; but when the state of the atmosphere 
is competent to effect its combustion, the proper 
degree of electrical tension is lost at the place 
where the explosion is effected ; and, until it is 
restored, or the gas comes in contact with that 
layer of the atmosphere which possesses the 
requisite degree of electrical tension, a consi- 
derable body of bog gas may collect, and be 
carried in the direction of the wind, so as to 
give rise to a sort of quick fire, with occasional 
flashes; in those places of the stream of gas 
where there happens to be a considerable 
volume of it. The lights, which still frequently 
excite apprehensions in Wales, anVi are popu- 
larly termed " corpse candles," have the same 
origin as the " ignes fatui." 

At the village of Wigmore, in Herefordshire, 
there are fields which may be, and two houses 
which really are, illuminated with a natural 
gas. This vapour, with which the subjacent 
strata seem to be charged, is obtained in the 
following manner : — a hole is made in the cellar 
of the house, or other locality, with an iron 
rod ; a hollow tube is then placed therein, fitted 
with a burner similar to those used for ordinary 
gas-lights, and immediately on applying a flame 
to the jet, a soft and brilliant light is obtained, 
which may be kept burning at pleasure. The 
gas is very pure, quite free from any offensive 
smell, and does not stain the ceilings, as is 
generally the case with the manufactured 



NATURAL GAS. 71 

article. Besides lighting rooms, etc., it has 
been used for cooking ; and, indeed, seems 
capable of the same applications as prepared 
carburetted hydrogen. There are several fields 
in which the phenomenon exists, and children 
are seen boring holes and setting the gas on 
fire f )r amusement. It is now several months 
since the discovery was made; and a great 
many of the curious have visited, and still con- 
tinue to visit, the spot. 

If the Chinese are not manufacturers, they are, 
nevertheless, gas consumers and employers on 
a large scale ; and have evidently been so, ages 
before the knowledge of its application was 
acquired by Europeans. Beds of coal are fre- 
quently pierced by the borers of salt water; 
and the inflammable gas is forced up in jets 
twenty or thirty feet in height. From these 
fountains, the vapour has been conveyed to the 
salt-works in pipes, and there used for the 
boiling and evaporation of the salt ; other tubes 
convey the gas intended for lighting the streets, 
and the larger apartments and kitchens. As 
there is still more gas than is required, the 
excess is conducted beyond the limits of the 
salt-works, and forms separate chimneys or 
columns of flame. ' 

A singular counterpart to this employment 
of natural gas, is witnessed in the valley of the 
Kanawha, in Virginia. The origin, the means 
of supply, the application to all the processes of 
manufacturing salt, and of the appropriation of 
the surplus for the purposes of illumination, are 



72 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

remarkably alike at such distant points as 
China and the United States. 

It has sometimes been stated of a departed 
person, that a luminous appearance was observed 
to rest upon, and occasionally to surround, a 
corpse. Such an effect has been described as 
supernatural — a Divine attestation to extra- 
ordinary excellence; and, doubtless, Koman 
Catholics have made the most of such circum- 
stances in reference to those whom they have 
denominated saints, and to whom a place has 
been assigned in their calendar. And yet there 
was no departui^e in any such instance from the 
ordinary laws of nature. Sir H. Marsh, in an 
essay on " The Evolution of Light from the 
Human Subject," states, that electric sparks 
have been known to issue from the skin of some 
individuals when rubbed lightly and quickly 
with a linen cloth. Not only has this physi- 
cian heard of such cases, but two had actually 
come imder his observation. 

He was led to consider the subject by the 
following statement made to him. '^ About an 
hour and-a-half before my sister's death, we 
were struck by appearances proceeding from 
her head, in a diagonal direction. She was, at 
the time, in a half-recumbSnt position, and per- 
fectly tranquil. The light was pale as the 
moon, but quite evident to mamma, myself, 
and sisters, who were watching over her at the 
time. One of us, at first, thought that it was 
lightning ; till, shortly after, we fancied we 
perceived a sort of tremulous glimmer playing 



LUMINOUS APPEARANCES. 73 

round the head of the bed; and then, recollect- 
ing that we liad read soniethinp^ of a similar 
nature having been observed previous to dis- 
solution, we had candles brought into the room, 
fearing our dear sister would perceive it, and 
that it might disturb the tranquillity of her 
last moments." 

A similar appearance around the person, 
and in the room, of a man who fell a sacrifice 
to lingering disease in a remote district of the 
south-west of Ireland, is recorded. All the 
witnesses agree in having seen the light ; many, 
however, came to the conclusion that it was 
caused by supernatural agency, and a proof of 
miraculous interposition, and even evidence of 
Divine favour. Considerable excitement was 
occasioned in the south of Ireland by the fol- 
lowing case, related by Dr. D. Donavan, in the 
Dublin Medical Press, Jan. 15, 1840:— "I 
was sent for," the Doctor says, " in December, 
1828, to see Harrington. He had been under 
the care of my predecessor, and had been en- 
tered in the dispensary book as a phthisical 
patient; and, on reference to my note-book, I 
find that the stethoscopic and other indications 
of phthisis were indubitable. He was under 
my care for about five years; during whicli 
lime, strange to say, the symptoms continued 
stationary ; and I had discontinued my attend- 
ance for about two years, when the report 
became general, that mysterious lights were 
every night seen in his cabin. The subject 
attracted a great deal of attention; and, like 



74 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

everything else in Ireland, at once assumed a 
sectarian complexion; some attributing the 
light to the miraculous interference of Heaven ; 
others, to the practice of the black art. Not 
regarding these views as affording an explana- 
tion of the mystery, I determined to subject 
the matter to the ordeal of my own senses; 
and, for this purpose, visited the cabin for four- 
teen nights; and on three nights, only, did I 
witness anything unusual. Once I perceived 
a luminous fog, resembling the aurora borealis, 
and twice I saw the scintillations, like the 
sparkling phosphorescence sometimes exhibited 
by the sea infusoria. From the close scrutiny 
I made, I can, with certainty, say, that no im- 
position was either employed or attempted. 
How are these appearances to be accounted 
for ? In answering this question, I would ob- 
serve, that they are never seen but in cases of . 
extensive disease, and when considerable alter- 
ation of structure has taken place. Processes 
analogous to decomposition are witnessed in 
the human subject while the living principle 
remains." 

On these, and similar facts. Dr. Marsh re- 
marks : *' Disease is but a step to^vard disso- 
lution, in which the vital powers are impaired; 
and, unless the malady be checked, by the use 
of proper means, a period will quickly ap- 
proach when the chemical action will entirely 
prevail over the whole frame. Phosphorescent 
matter may be generated in organic bodies at 
a period of incipient decomposition; and when 



THE MAGICIAN SADOOMEH. 75 

we consider that phosphuretted hydrogen un- 
dergoes spontaneous combustion, when brought 
in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, 
and that the component parts of which this 
gas is formed exist in the body in great abun- 
dance, an easy solution is at hand, accounting 
for the luminous appearances which have been 
witnessed in dissecting-rooms, in burial-grounds, 
and in marine substances, as well as on the 
approach of dissolution." 

The Arabs are well known as believers in 
wonders ; and of one of their magicians, named 
Sadoomeh, the following story is told. " In 
order to give one of his friends a treat, he took 
him to the distance of about half-an-hour's 
walk into the desert, on the north of Cairo, where 
they both sat do"vvn upon the pebbly and sandy 
plain ; and the magician having uttered a spell j 
they suddenly found themselves in the midst ojf 
a garden, like one of the gardens of Paradise, 
abounding with flowers and fruit-trees of every 
kind, springing up from a soil covered with 
verdure brilhant as the emerald, and irrigated 
by numerous streamlets of the purest water. 
A repast of the most delicious viands and fruit 
was spread before them by invisible hands; 
and they both ate and drank to satiety, taking 
copious draughts of the various wines. At 
length the magician's guest sank into a deep 
sleep, and when he awoke he found himself 
again in the pebbly and sandy plain, with 
Sadoomeh still by his side." " The reader will 
probably attribute this vision," says Mr. Lane, 



76 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

who relates the tale, "to a dose of opium or 
some similar drug; and such I suppose to have 
been the means employed; for I cannot doubt 
the integrity of the narrator^ though he would 
not admit such an explanation; regarding the 
whole as an affair of magic, ^ jinn,' or genii." 

A story of Gassendi, one of the most dis- 
tinguished of naturalists, mathematicians, and 
philosophers of France, in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, will place this solution in a still clearer 
light. As he was taking a morning walk near 
Deigne, in Provence, his ears were assailed by 
repeated exclamations of " A sorcerer ! a sor- 
cerer !" On glancing behind him, he beheld a 
mean and simple-looking man, with his hands 
tied, whom a mob of the country-people were 
hurrying to prison. Gassendi's. character and 
learning had given him great authority with 
them, and he desired to be left alone with the 
man. They immediately surrendered him, 
and Gassendi said to him, in private, " My 
friend, you must tell me sincerely, whether you 
have made a compact with the devil or not : if 
you confess it, I will give you your liberty im- 
mediately ; but, if you refuse to tell me, I will 
• give you immediately into the hands of a ma- 
gistrate." The man answered, " Sir, I will 
own that I go to a meeting of wizards every 
day. One of my friends has given me a drug, 
which I take to effect this, and I have been 
received as a sorcerer these three years." He 
then described the proceedings of these meet- 
ings, and spoke of the different devils, as if he 



THE SORCERER UNDECEIVED. 77 

had been all his life acquainted with them. 
" Show me," said Gassendi, " the dnig which 
you take to attend this infernal meeting, for I 
intend to go there with you to-night." The 
man repHed, "As you please, Sir; I wdll take 
you at midnight, as soon as the clock strikes 
twelve." Accordingly, he met Gassendi at the 
appointed hour, and, showing him two boluses, 
each of the size of a walnut, he desired him to 
swallow one, as soon as Gassendi had seen him 
swallow the other, and then they lay down to- 
gether on a goat-skin. The man soon fell asleep, 
but Gassendi remained awake and watched him, 
and perceived that he was greatly disturbed in 
his slumbers, and writhed and twisted his body 
about, as if he had been troubled by bad 
dreams. At the expiration of five or six hours 
he awoke, and said to Gassendi, " I am sure. 
Sir, you ought to be satisfied with the manner 
in which the great goat received you ; he con- 
ferred on you a high honour when he permitted 
you to kiss his tail the first time he ever saw 
you." It was thus apparent that the dele- 
terious opiate had operated upon his imagina- 
tion. Gassendi, compassionating his weakness 
and credulity, took pains to convince him of 
his self-delusion; and, showing him the bolus, 
he gave it to a dog, who soon fell asleep, and 
suffered great con\^ilsions. The poor fellow 
was set at liberty to undeceive his brethren, 
who had, like him, been lulled by the noxious 
drug into imagining themselves sorcerers. 
In India there is a native plant, which, after 
?• 



78 CHExMICAL WONDERS. 

it has flowered, is dried and sold in the bazaars 
of Calcutta, for smoking. The Hindoos call it 
** ganpah," and they give the name of " bang" or 
" subjee" to the large leaves and capsules which 
they use for the same purpose. The plant is 
a species of hemp; the smoking of which is 
considered so delightful, according to Dr. 
Thomson, as to have been denominated by such 
epithets as " Assuager of sorrow," " Increaser 
of pleasure," " Cementer of friendship," " Laugh- 
ter-mover," and others of the same kind. 

On the same authoiity it is stated, that in 
Nepaul, the resin only is used; in some places 
it is collected by native coolies, walking through 
the fields of hemp at the time the plants give 
forth the resin, which, adhering to the skin, is 
scraped off from it, and kneaded into balls. It 
is taken in doses, from a grain to two grains, 
and causes a delightful delirium. When re- 
peated, however, it is followed by catalepsy, or 
that state of insensibility which allows the body 
to be moulded into any form like a Dutch- 
jointed doll, the limbs remaining in the position 
in which they were placed, though contrary to 
the law of gravity, and continuing so for many 
hours. 

We are well acquainted with various means 
of acting in an extraordinary manner on the 
human frame. The writer, in common with 
multitudes, has witnessed, for example, the 
operation of nitrous oxide, often called " the 
laughing-gas." It acts, however, very differ- 
ently on different persons; some laugh immo- 



THE LAUGHING-GAS. 7B 

derately, others become depressed, others assume 
the airs of vanity and iniportance wliicli accord 
with their most cherished dispositions; and 
some can only be forcibly restrained from deeds 
of great violence. It is certainly a most sin- 
gular sight to see a person laughing most 
boisterously, or strutting with all the hauteur 
of a newly-made potentate, suddenly subside as 
the action of the gas ceases, into a very unob- 
trusive individual. 

We may now briefly allude to one of the most 
extraordinary applications of the present times. 
The late sir Humphry Davy made many ex- 
periments on the effects of various gases on the 
human lungs. He found, in his own person, 
that the inhalation of nitrous oxide removed 
head-ache, and greatly assuaged the pain of cut- 
ting a wisdom-tooth. In his works, edited by 
Dr. John Davy, is the following passage: — 

" As nitrous oxide, in its extensive operation, 
appears capable of destroying physical pain, it 
may probably be used with advantage during 
surgical operations in which no great effusion 
of blood takes place." Here is the germ of the 
recent application of ether. 

" The effects of this inhalation, as indicated 
by the patient's own recollection," says a writer 
in the North British Review, " are very various. 
in general they are somewhat as follows : — A 
pleasing sense of soothing succeeds the first 
irksomeness of the pungent vapour — a soothing 
of both mind and body. Ringing in the ears 
takes place, with some confusion of sight and 



80 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

intellectual perception. The limbs are felt 
cold and powerless; the hands and feet first, 
then the knees ; and the feeling is as if these 
parts had ceased to be peculiar property, and 
dropped away. This sensation may gradually 
creep over the whole frame ; the patient becom- 
ing, in more senses than one, truly etherealized ; 
reduced to the condition of no body and all 
soul. The objects around are either lost sight 
of or strangely perverted; fancied shadows flit 
before the eyes, and then a dream sets in — 
sometimes calm and placid, sometimes active 
and bustling, sometimes very pleasurable, 
sometimes frightful, as a nightmare. Emerging, 
the figures and scenes shift rapidly, and grow 
fainter and fainter; present objects are caught 
by the eye once more, the ringing of the ears 
is heard again, consciousness and self-control 
return, a tendency to excited talking is very 
manifest, movement is unsteady, and, both in 
mind and body, a kind of intoxication is de- 
clared. It is, however, of a light and airy 
kind ; very pure, very pleasant, and very pass- 
ing, and, when gone, leaving very little trace 
behind. 

" Experience has fully shown that the brain 
may be acted on so as to annihilate, for the 
time, what may be termed the faculty of feel- 
ing pain ; the organ of general sense may be 
lulled into profound sleep, while the organ of 
special sense, and the organ of intellectual 
function remain wide awake, active, and busily 
employed. The patient may feel no pain under 



INHALATION OF ETHER. 81 

very cniel cutting, and yet he may see, hear, 
taste, and smell, as well as ever, to all appear- 
ance ; and he may also be perfectly conscious 
of everything within reach of his observation — 
able to reason on such events most lucidly, and 
able to retain both the events and the reason- 
ing in his memory afterwards. We have seen 
a patient following the operator with her eyes 
most intelligently and watchfully, as he shifted 
his place near her, lifted his knife, and pro- 
ceeded to use it ; wincing not at all during its 
use ; answering questions by gesture, very 
readily and plainly ; and, after the operation 
was over, narrating every event as it occurred ; 
declaring that she knew and saw all ; stating 
that she knew and felt that she was being cut, and 
yet that she felt no pain whatever. Patients 
have said, quietly, ' You are sawing now,' dur- 
ing the use of the saw in amputation ; and 
afterwards they have declared most solemnly, 
that though quite conscious of that part of the 
operation, yet they felt no pain. We have 
seen a patient enduring amputation of a limb 
without any sign of suffering, opening her eyes 
during the performance, at its most painful 
part, descrying a country practitioner at some 
distance — under whose care she had formerly 
been, and whom she had not seen for some 
considerable time — addressing him by name, 
and requesting that he might not leave town 
without seeing her." 

Since the period to which the Avriter jusc 
quoted refers, Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, hiis 



82 CHEMICAL WONDERS. 

discovered a substitute for sulphuric ether — 
chloroform, or the perchloride of formyle. It is 
stated to possess over sulphuric ether the follow- 
ing advantages: — 1. A greatly less quantity 
of chloroform than of ether is requisite to pro- 
duce the desired effect. 2. Its action is much 
more rapid and complete, and generally more 
enduring. 3. The inhalation and influence of 
chloroform are far more agreeable and pleasant 
than those of ether. 4. The use of chloroform 
is less expensive than that of ether. 5. Its 
odour is not unpleasant ; nor does it exhale 
in a disagreeable form from the lungs of the 
patient, as so generally happens with sulphuric 
ether. 6. Being required in much less quan- 
tity, it is much more portable and transmiss- 
ible than sulphuric ether. 7. Xo special kind 
of inhaler or instrument is necessary for its ex- 
hibition. A little of the hquid diffused upon 
the interior of a hollow-shaped sponge, or on a 
pocket-handkerchief, or a piece of linen or 
paper, or held over the mouth and nostrils, so 
as to be fully inhaled, generally suffices, in 
about a minute or two, to produce the effect. 
This agent, however, requires to be used to 
annul pain under the direction of a judicious 
medical practitioner ; it may otherwise be pro- 
ductive of serious consequences. 

A prodigious force often arises from chemical 
affinity. Of this, gunpowder presents a familiar 
instance. It is formed of nitre, sulphur, and 
charcoal, which, in the ordinary state, are only 
combined mechanically ; but no sooner is this 




tliefle gnJHtiiicti are 
liflo^^thty hj chankal actioii^ into nth doee 
eoslaet, as to eToire a migbtj and destnictiTe 
power It atticd likdj to be tiuown into the 
ahade bj the ^ M oie i y of gun-cotton aa an ex- 
plosiTe agent, which excited extiaotdinaij in- 

thfoiii^MNit Europe. On prqiectile expe- 

; made, a gnn, ehai^«^ with thirty 

cf ptepaied ooltoo, propeikd an equal 

i of shot, with greater face and precisMB, 
aia distance of ftrtjjards, than were gained faj 
the same gun kmded with a hundred-and-twciitj 
gfuina of gmpowder. A nfle, oiarged villi 
fiftj-lbor and-4i-half grains of gunpowder^ sent 
a bafl throng aeren boards, hait-an-inch in 
at a di^lanre of foHj yards ; the 

rifle, charged with forty grains of gun* 
I the ball to enter the ei^th board. 
Amnhw rifle, whidb had been used feffdcphant- 
shooting, and cons o qp ae ntly carried a modi 
larger ball, charged widi fertj grains of gun- 
ootton, Ibrocd the ball throi^h eight boards, 
at a diitanoe of ninetj jards. In no case was 
tibe discharge acoompanied by a greater recttl 
dmn umal ; and the reports were not louder 
tibna Aose accompanying the d ischarge of guns 
and rifles loaded with gunpowder. Accos din g 
to the specification of the palnlee, M. Schon- 
bein, cotton is ptefentid far this purpose, Ireed 
from egtr a a iuu s ma tter s ; and it is conmdered 
desirable to opcnie on the dean fibres of the 
cotton ia a dry state, by means of nitric and 
These are mixed together in 



8-1: CHEmCAL WONDERS. 

the proportion of one measure of nitric acid to 
three measures of sulphuric acid, in any suit- 
able or convenient vessel not liable to be 
affected bj the acids. A great degree of heat 
being generated by the mixture, it is leit to 
cool until its temperature falls to sixty or ^ily 
degrees Fahrenheit. The cotton is then im- 
mersed in it ; and, in order that it may become 
thoroughly saturated with the acids, it is stirred 
with a rod ot glass, or tiLcv material, not 
affected by the acids. The cotton should be 
introduced in as open a state as practicable. 
The acids are then poured or drawn off, and 
the cotton gently pressed by a presser of glazed 
earthenware, to take out the acids, after which 
- it is covered up in the vessel, and allowed to 
stand for about an hour. It is subsequently 
washed in a continuous flow of water, until the 
presence of the acids is not indicated by the 
ordinary test of litmus paper. To remove any 
uncombined portions of the acids which may 
remain after the cleansing process, the patentee 
dips the cotton in a weak solution of carbonate 
of potash, composed of one ounce of carbonate 
of potash to one gallon of water, and partially 
dries it by pressing, as before. The cotton is 
then highly explosive, and may be used in that 
state ; but, to increase its explosive power, it is 
dipped in a weak solution of nitrate of potash, 
and, lastly, dried in a room heated by hot air, 
or steam, to about one hundred and fifty degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

The advantages and disadvantages of this 



GUN-COTTON. 85 

substance have thns l^een stated by professor 
Brande : — " The disadv.-mtages are, tluit the 
effects are less regular than those of gunpow- 
der ; that it is more dangerous, because infiam- 
ing at a lower temperature ; that it does net 
take fire when compressed in tubes ; that it 
bums slowly in all kinds of cartridges ; that 
guns and pistols must be altered to admit of 
its use ; that it is not adapted for the use of the 
army ; that the barrel of the gun is moistened 
by the water produced during combustion. 
The advantiiges, on the other hand, may be 
stated as follows: — Its extreme cleanliness, 
leaving no residue after combustion ; its free- 
dom from all bad smell ; the facility and the 
safety of its preparation ; the possessing treble 
the force of gimjx)wder ; its explosion producing 
no smoke, and less noise than that of gun- 
powder; its filamentary nature admitting of its 
being used over head*^ in mining operations ; 
its not being liable (as a granulated substance 
is) to the accidents of leakage ; its occasioning 
ver}' little recoil." — Every benevolent mind must 
ish to hear no more of " the confused noise of 
attle and of garments rolled in blood ;" and 
• lat the time may soon arrive when men shall 
beat their swords into ploughsliares, and 
leir spears into pruning-hooks ;" when " they 
shall learn war no more,'' but yield themselves 
heartily and devotedly to the benignant sway 
of the Prince of peace. There seems, however, 
no reason to conclude that gun-cotton will be 
employed for any hostile purpose, the Board of 
8 



86; CHEmCAL WONDERS. 

Ordnance having definitely decided against its 
adoption in the military and naval services. The 
principal objection to it is, the very low tem- 
perature at which it explodes. The mere heat- 
ing of a gun, from a number of charges success- 
ively fired, has been proved sufficient to cause 
an instant explosion of gun-cotton. 

In niining, it is likely to be of great use. In 
the slate-quarries at Penrhyns it has been found 
far superior to gunpowder. A huge mass of 
sixty tons' weight, for instance, was gently 
pushed from its firmly compacted bed by the 
explosion of only eight ounces of cotton, while 
the slate was not splintered. In other great 
works it will also be of service. In a cutting 
on the Syston and Peterborough railway, not far 
from Stamford, experiments showed the ave* 
rage powers of the gun-cotton to be in the 
proportion of one to six of gunpowder ; so that, 
in a hard freestone foundation, about ^ye feet 
thick, and with an entire deptii of twenty-eight 
feet, where six holes were necessary for gun- 
powder, only one was required for gun-cotton. 
In all blasting operations, whether in open cut- 
tings, tunnels, or deep mines, a great saving of 
time, labour, and cost, is thus likely to be 
effected. 



CHAPTER VI. 

^nv ^"^ !^^s^r^^^"o»iena-Ma,?ic pictures-The optical para- 
mi^T? ^^^ '"^^?' '"^ mirrors-Effect of an optical instru- 
y/nirvJlX^'f."'^"' raind-Origin of photography-The 
Taibotype-The Daguerreotype-SimUght pictures. 

The cause of tliose sensations which we refer 
to the eyes, or that which produces tlie sense 
of seemnr, is light. The phenomena of vision 
have always been regarded as among the most 
interesting branches of natural science. The 
knowledge of the laws which regulate the phe- 
nomena of light, constitutes the science of op- 
tics, which explains the cause of many most 
striking illusions. 

Magic pictures have been produced, which, 
when seen in a certain point through a dass, 
exhibit an object different from that be held by 
the naked eye. Niceron tells us that he ex- 
ecut^'d at Pans, and deposited in the library of 
the Minimes of the Place Royale, a picture of 
this kind ; when seen by the naked eye, it 
represP^nted fifteen portraits of Turkish sultans, 
but, when viewed through the glass, it was a 
portrait of Louis xiii. 

87 



88 



PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 




The writer has often seen a singular trans- 
formation effected by an ingenious device, called 
the optical paradox : thus an eagle may be 
changed into a lion, and a dog into a cat. 

For this purpose, 
a wooden three- 
sided box must 
be prepared, and 
through the open 
part may slide the 
various drawings 
to be used, as b. 
Connected with 
this, there must be 
a pillar, c, and 
a horizontal bar 
holding a tube, d, 
having in it a glass placed exactly over the 
centre. The change is partly dependent 
on the glass, the sides of which are flat and 
diverge from its hexagonal base upwards, to a 
E point in the axis of the glass, 

like a pyramid, E, forming an 
isosceles triangle. All that is 
now necessary to the completion 
of the change, is in the border of the drawing, 
in which the various parts required for the 
new figure are cleverly introduced ; so that 
when the distance of the glass from the eye 
is rightly adjusted, each angular side will take 
up its portion from the border, and present to 
the eye the various parts in an entire figure. 
The shape of the glass prevents the appearance 



CHINESE MAGIC MIRRORS. 89 

of any particular figure in the centre, as the 
eagle, for instance; while the lion, arranged in 
portions and drawn on the circle of refraction 
at six different parts of the border, yet artfully 
disguised by blending with it, the transforma- 
tion will be completely produced. 

A paper has lately been read to the Academy 
of Sciences at Paris, by M. Stanislaus Julien, 
on the metallic mirrors made in China, and to 
which the name of " magic mirrors " has been 
given. Hitherto all attempts by Europeans to 
obtain information as to the process, in the 
localities where they are manufactured, have 
proved failures, some of the persons applied to 
being unwilling to reveal the secret, and others 
being ignorant of the process. These mirrors 
are called magical, because, if they receive the 
rays of the sun on their polished surface, the 
characters, or flowers in reliefs which exist on 
the other side, are faithfully reproduced. The 
following information has been obtained by M. 
Julien, from the writings of an author named 
Ou-tseu-hing, who lived between 1260 and 
1341 : — " The cause of this phenomenon is the 
distinct use of fine copper and rough copper. 
If, on the under side, there be produced, by 
Ciisting in a mould, the figure of a dragon in a 
circle, there is then engraved deeply on the 
disc a dragon exactly similar. Then, the parts 
which have been cut are filled with rather 
rough copper; and this is, by the action of fire, 
incorporali'd with the other metal, which is of 
a finer nature. The face of the mirror is next 
8* 



W PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

prepared, and a sliglit coating of tin is spread 
over it. If the polished disc of a mirror so 
prepared be turned towards the sun, and the 
image be reflected on a wall, it presents dis- 
tinctly the clear portion and the dark portion, 
the one of the fine, and the other of the rough 
copper." Ou-tseu-hing states, that he had 
ascertained this by a careful inspection of the 
fragments of a broken mirror. 

It is easy for an ignorant and superstitious 
mind to confound a very harmless and simple 
instrument with one of magical power. We 
have an example of this in Dod well's descrip- 
tion of his residence at Athens. On his first 
admission within the venerable w^alls of the 
Acropolis, it was necessary to ofibr a small 
present to the disdar, or Turkish governor, 
and an additional sum to make drawings and 
observations without being molested by the 
servants of the garrison. The disdar proved 
to be a man of bad faith and insatiable rapa- 
city, and, after experiencing numerous vexa- 
tions from the mercenary Turk, Dodwell was 
at length released from his importunities by a 
singular circumstance. As he was one day 
engaged in drawing the Parthenon, with the 
aid of his camera obscura, the disdar, whose 
surprise was excited by the novelty of the 
sight, asked, with a sort of fretful inquietude, 
what new conjuration he was performing with 
. that extraordinary machine. Dodwell endea- 
voured to explain it, by putting in a clean sheet 
of paper, and making him look at the instru- 



THE DISDAR PERPLEXED. 91 

nient; but he no sooner saw the Temple of 
Minerva reflected on the paper in all its lines 
and colours, than he imagined the effect was 
produced by some magical process ; his asto- 
nishment appeared mingled with alarm, and, 
stroking his long black beard, he repeated seve- 
ral times the words Allah, Masch-Allah — a term 
of admiration with the Turks, signifying that 
which is made by God. 

Again he looked into the camera obscura, 
with a kind of cautious diffidence, and, at that 
moment, some of his soldiers happening to pass 
before the reflecting-glass, were beheld by the 
astonished disdar walking upon the paper. 
He now became outrageous ; he assailed Dod- 
well with various opprobrious epithets, one of 
which was Bonaparte — the appellation being 
at the time synonymous to that of magician, or 
of any one supposed to be endowed with super- 
natural talents — and declared that, if Dodwell 
chose, he might take away all the stones in the 
temple, but that he would not permit his sol- 
diers to be conjured into a box. " When I 
found," says Dodwell, " that it was no use to 
reason with his ignorance, I changed my tone, 
and told him that, if he did not leave me un- 
molested, 1 would put him into my box ; and 
that he should find it a very difficult matter to 
get out again. His alarm was now visible ; 
he immediately retired, and ever after stared 
at me with a mixture of apprehension and 
amazement. When he saw me come to the 
Acropolis, he carefully avoided my approach ; 



92 



PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 



and never afterwards gave me any further 
molestation." 

The portable camera obscnra, represented 
by the diagram, has often yielded much plea- 




sure in the domestic circle, while the larger 
ones, which are publicly exhibited, are highly 
interesting. No person, perhaps, has witnessed 
the neatness of outline, the precision of form, 
the truth of colouring, and the sweet gradations 
of tint, thus apparent, without regretting that 
an imagery so exquisite and faithful to nature 
could not be made to fix itself permanently on 
the tablet of the machine. Yet, in the esti- 
mation of all, such a wish seemed destined to 
take its place among other dreams of beautiful 
things; the splendid but impracticable con- 
ceptions in which men of science and ardent 
temperament have sometimes indulged. Such 
a dream, however, has been realized of late. 

Mr. Thomas Wedgewood, the celebrated 
porcelain manufacturer, so early as 1802, pub- 
lished, in the journals of the Royal Institutioni 



EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY. 93 

a method of copying paintings upon glass, and 
of making profiles by the agency of light upon 
nitrate of silver. The experiments he made 
were repeated by sir Humphry Davy ; bub 
several years after, MM. Niepce and Daguerre, 
and Mr. Fox Talbot, laid the foundation of 
the present state of photographic drawing. 
The former engaged in a long series of experi- 
ments to render metallic surfaces peculiarly 
sensitive; the aim of the latter was to produce 
this eiFect on paper. The camera obscura 
used for this purpose is a rectangular box, with 




a double convex lens, a, at one end, and a 
glass reflector, b, which is generally a piece of 
looking-glass, at the other. Now, supposing 
the rays of light to proceed from an extensive 
landscape, and pass through this small convex 
lens, as we well know they may do, what will 
be the effect produced ? The scene will, in 
the first place, be thrown on the reflector, 
which is fixed at an angle of forty-five degrees 
to the horizon. Now it follows, from a law 
well known to opticians, that these rays will be 
reflected to the top of the box, immediately 
over the mirror; so that if a ground glass, or 
any other medium capable of receiving the 



94 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

reflected image, be placed there, a representa- 
tion of the landscape may be observed. As 
then, it is proved, by innumerable experiments, 
that refiect(.d hght has, in proportion to its 
power, as much influence on prepared or pho- 
tographic paper, as the direct rays of the sun; 
it foUows that, if a piece of it be placed in the 
same situation as the ground glass, the re- 
flected image, be it a landscape, a figure, or an 
artificial object, will be formed on it. All that 
is, therefore, required to be done, in using the 
camera obscura for photographic drawing, is to 
place upon the opening at the top of the box 
the prepared paper, and immediately to cover 
it with the lid, c, so that it may not be acted 
upon by any other light than that reflected 
from the mirror. The time required for pro- 
ducing the necessary effect will depend on 
several circumstances, such as the preparation 
of the paper and the intensity of the hght when 
the experiment is made; the latter, however, 
is by far the more important. On a bright 
sun-shining day, the drawing wdll be produced 
in one-half the time, and with far more sharp 
ness of outline, than on a dull wintry day, 
when the sun struggles with the mists by 
which its radiant beams are encumbered. 
" The Pencil of Nature," is the expressive title 
of a collection of photographic drawings, p>ro- 
duced by Mr. Talbot. Upon the third part of 
this work, we find the following acute criticism 
in the Athenceum^ No. 920. 

" The subjects are ^ The Entrance Gateway of 



" THE PENCIL OF NATUHE." .95 

Queen's College, Oxford f ^ The Ladder,' in 
which we have three figures Irom the life ; 
and * A View of the Author's Residence, 
L«acock Abbey, in Wiltshire.' In the first of 
these, the truth- telling character of photo- 
graphic pictures is pleasingly shown. It ap- 
pears, by the turret clock, that the view was 
taken a little after two, when the sun was shin- 
ing obliquely upon the building. The story of 
every stone is told, and the crumbling of its 
surface under the action of atmospheric influ- 
ences is distinctly marked. The figures in 
* The Ladder' are prettily arranged, but the 
face of the boy is distorted, from the circum- 
stance of its being so very near the edge of the 
field of view embraced by the lens of the 
camera obscura. In looking at this photo- 
graph, we are led at once to reflect on the truth 
to nature observed by Rembrandt, in the dis- 
position of his lights and shadows. We have 
no violent contrasts; even the highest lights 
and the deepest shadows seem to melt into each 
other, and the middle tints are but the har- 
monizing gradations. Without the aid of 
colour, with simple brown and white, so charm- 
ing a result is produced, that, looking at the 
picture from a little distance, we are almost led 
to fancy that the introduction of colour would 
add nothing to its charm." 

The following is the patent process for ob- 
taining a negative picture : — Take a sheet of 
paper, with a smooth surface, and a close and 
even texture, and without the water-mark, and 



96 PHENOl^IENA OF LIGHT. 

wash one side of it, bj means of a soft camers- 
liair brush, with a solution composed of one 
hundred grains of crystallized nitrate of silver 
dissolved in six ounces of distilled water, 
having previously marked with a cross the side 
which is to be washed. When the paper has 
been dried cautiously at the fire, or spon- 
taneously in the dark, immerse it for a few 
minutes (two minutes, at a temperature of 
sixty-five degrees,) in a solution of iodide of 
potassium, consisting of five hundred grains to 
one pint of distilled water. The paper is then 
to be dipped in water, and then dried, by ap- 
plying blotting-paper to it hghtly, and after- 
wards exposing it to the heat of a fire, or 
allowing it to dry spontaneously. The paper 
thus prepared is called iodized paper, and may 
be kept for any length of time in a portfolio 
not exposed to light. When a sheet of paper 
is required for use, wash it with the following 
solution, which we shall call No. 1 ; take one 
hundred grains of nitrate of silver, dissolved in 
two ounces of distilled water, and add to this 
one-third of its volume of strong acetic acid. 
Make another solution, No. 2, by dissolving 
crystallized gallic acid in cold distilled water, 
and then mix the two solutions together in 
equal proportions, and in no greater quantity 
than is required for immediate use, as it will 
not keep long without spoiling. This mixture, 
called gallo-nitrate of silver, by the patentee, 
is then to be spread, by a soft camel's-hair 
brush, on the marked side of the iodized paper; 



" THE PENCIL OF NATURE." 97 

and, after allowing the paper to remain lialf- 
a-minnte to absorb the sohition, it should be 
dipped in distilled water and dried lightly; first 
with blotting-paper, and then by holding the 
paper at a considerable distance from the fire. 
When dry, the paper is ready, and it is ad- 
visable to use it within a few hours. 

The paper, which is highly sensitive to light, 
must noAV be placed in the camera obscura, in 
order to receive on its marked surlkce a dis- 
tinct image of the landscape or person w^hose 
picture is required. After remaining in the 
camera from ten seconds to several minutes, 
according to the intensity of the light, it is 
taken out of the camera in a dark room. If 
the object has been strongly illuminated, or if 
the paper has been long in the camera, a sen- 
sible picture will be seen on the paper; but, if 
the time of exposure has been short, or the 
illumination feeble, the paper will " appear 
entirely blank." An invisible image, however, 
is impressed on the paper, and may be ren- 
dered apparent by the following process : — 
Take some of the gallo-nitrate of silver, and, 
with a soft camel's-hair brush, wash the paper 
all over with this liquid, then hold it before a 
gentle fire, and, in a short time, the image will 
begin to appear; and those parts upon which 
the light has acted most strongly will become 
brown or black, while the others remain white. 
The image continues to grow more and more 
distinct for some time, and, when it becomes 
sufficiently so, the operation must be terminated, 
9 



98 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

and the picture fixed. In order to effect this, 
the paper must be dipped first into water, then 
partly dried by blotting-paper, and afterwards 
washed with a solution of bromide of potassium, 
consisting of one hundred grains of the salt, 
dissolved in eight or ten ounces of water. The 
picture is then finally washed in water and 
dried as before. In place of bromide of pot- 
assium, a strong solution of common salt may 
be used. 

By this process we get a negative picture — 
having the lights dark and the shades light — 
and from it positive pictures may be obtained as 
follows : — Dip a sheet of good paper in a solution 
of common salt, consisting of one part of a satu- 
rated solution, to eight parts of water, and dry 
it first with blotting-paper, and then spontane- 
ously. Mark one of its sides, and wash that side 
with a solution of nitrate of silver, which we 
shall call No. 8, consisting of eighty grains of 
salt, to one ounce of distilled water. Wlien this 
paper is dry, place it with its marked side 
uppermost on a flat board or surface of any 
kind, and above it put the negative picture, 
which should be pressed against the nitrated or 
positive paper by means of a glass plate and 
screws. In the course of ten or fifteen minutes 
of a bright sunshine, or of several hours of 
common daylight, a fine positive picture will be 
found on the paper beneath the negative picture. 
When this picture has been well washed or 
soaked in water, it is washed over with the 
solution of bromide of potassium, already 



THE DAGUERREOTYPE. 99 

mentioned, or plunged in a strong solution of 
common salt.* 

A singular result of the application of this 
invention occurred to an accomplished traveller, 
who ascended Mount Etna, in order to obtain 
representations of that remarkable volcano. No 
sooner was the camera fixed on the edge of the 
crater, and the sensitive paper introduced, than 
a partial irruption took place, and the traveller 
had to fly for his life. On the cessation of the 
irruption, he returned ; doubtless, with the ex- 
pectation of merely collecting the fragments of 
his valuable instrument; when, to his great 
astonishment and delight, he discovered not 
only that his camera was absolutely uninjured, 
but that it contained an admirable representa- 
tion of the crater and the irruption. 

A brief account of the process of the Daguer- 
reotype may now be given. A plate of silvered 
copper, about as thick as a shilling, is well 
cleaned and polished by rubbing it with cotton, 
line pumice powder, and dilute nitric acid, and 
afterwards exposed to the heat of a spirit-lamp, 
placed below it, till a strong white coating is 
formed on the polished surface. On the plate 
being cooled suddenly by means of a cold slab 
of stone or of metal, the white coating is re- 
moved by repeatedly polishing it with dry 
pumice and cotton, and then three times more 
with the dilute nitric acid and pumice powder. 
A careful cleaning being thus given to the 
plate, it is placed in a box containing iodine, till 
* North British Review. 



100 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

it becomes visibly covered with a golden film 
of that substance, which must neither be pale 
nor purple. It is then placed in the camera 
till a distinct picture of whatever appears 
before it is formed upon the surface ; it remains 
there for a period depending on the intensity of 
the light, and is then removed to a metallic box, 
having in it a cup containing at least three 
ounces of mercury. Placed below the cup is a 
spirit-lamp, which throws off the mercurial 
vapour ; and, in exact proportion as this vapour 
deposits itself on the parts of the plate which 
have been acted upon by the Hght, is the 
picture developed on the surface of the plate, 
by the adhesion of the white mercurial vapour 
to the different parts which had been impressed 
by the light. As soon as the picture appears 
complete, the plate is placed in a trough of 
sheet- copper, containing either a satui'ated 
solution of common salt, or a weak solution of 
hyposulphite of soda. Thus, the coating of 
iodine will be dissolved, the yellow coloui* quite 
disappearing; hot, but not boiling, distilled 
water is then poured over the plate, and any 
drops which remain are removed by blowing 
upon them. 

The picture being now finished, is preserved 
from dust by placing it in a frame, and covering 
it with glass. In every successful operation, 
the picture is almost as perfect in its details as 
that of the camera obscura itself; but, as the 
light of the sun is only white, there can be, of 
course, none of the varied tints of natui'e. The 



THE DAGUERREOTYPE. 101 

shades are supplied by the black polish of the 
metallic surface which, when it reflects a lumin- 
ous object, the white vapour of the mercury 
appears in shade, and thus gives us either a 
positive or a negative picture, according to the 
b'ght in which it is viewed. 

Various improvements have gradually been 
made in the processes of the Daguerreotype and 
the Talbotype, which our limited space forbids us 
to describe. Mr. Beard has added colour to his 
Daguerreotype portraits, which is uniform and 
so transparent as not to affect the likeness in 
any degree, while the life-like effect is greatly 
heightened. M. Claudet has found that, when 
the sun is rendered red by the vapours of the 
atmosphere, it not only produces no effect upon 
the Daguerreotype plate, but that it destroys the 
effect previously produced by the white light. 
If the image of the red sun be taken in the 
camera obsciu'a, it produces upon the Daguer- 
reotype plate a black image. By covering a 
Daguerreotype plate previously affected by Hght 
with a red, orange, or yellow glass, the radiation 
through these coloured media has also the pro- 
perty of destroying the action produced by 
white light. The most interesting part of M. 
Claudet's statement refers to the fact that, after 
the destroying action of the red, orange, and 
yellow radiations, the plate is restored to its 
former sensitiveness ; so that, after having been 
affected by white light, and restored by the 
destructive action of the red, orange, and yellow 
radiations, it is possible to produce a photogra - 
9* 



102 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

phic effect, as upon a plate just prepared with 
iodine and bromine. This alternate acting and 
destroying action may be repeated ad infinitum^ 
without altering the final state of the plate. 
This curious fact proves, evidently, that, in the 
Daguerreotype process, light does not alter the 
chemical compound on the plate, and that the 
afiinity for mercury is the result of some new 
property imparted by the action of the rays of 
light. M. Claudet's experiments prove, also, 
that the red and yellow rays are endowed with 
a photographic action of their own, which, as 
well as that of the blue and violet rays, gives 
an affinity for mercurial vapour. The photo- 
graphic action of the red ray is destroyed by 
the yellow, that of the yellow by the red ; the 
red and yellow destroy the photographic action 
of the blue, and the blue destroys the action of 
the others. The photographic, or the destroying 
action of any particular ray cannot be continued 
by any other. It appears, therefore, that each 
radiation changes the state of the plate, and 
each change produces the sensitiveness^ to 
mercurial vapour when it does not exist, and 
destroys this sensitiveness when it does exist.* 

M. Regnault has laid before the Academy of 
Sciences, at Paris, some photographic specimens 
on paper, obtained by M. Blanquart-Evrard, by 
a modification of the usual process. In the 
preparations hitherto described, one part of the 
process presented serious difficulties, namely, 
that of the use of gallic acid in order to produce 
* Literary Gazette. 



THE CHROMATYPE. 103 

the impression. It happened frequently, that a 
proof taken in too mild a light, or of too large 
tliuieubions, could not receive the necessary 
force before disappearing, as it may be said, 
under the uniform colour produced by the 
mixture of the gallic acid with the aceto-azotate 
of silver, with which the paper is imbued. 
After having ascertained that the gallic acid 
produces this uniform colour on the impression, 
only because it is combined in small quantity 
with the aceto-azotate of silver, M. Blanquart- 
Evrard removes all the difficulty. After taking 
the proof from the camera obscura, he plunges 
it into a vessel of large dimensions, covered 
with a layer of one centimetre of gallic acid of 
cold saturation. The bath is agitated during 
the immersion; and the action may be thus 
prolonged until the impression has obtained 
the necessary force to secure a good result. 
The proof is then washed, and the gallic acid 
is replaced by a solution of bromure of potas- 
sium, or chloruret of sodium, in which it is left 
for about a quarter-of-an-hour.* 

The chromatype, discovered by Mr. Hunt, 
consists in washing good letter-paper with the 
following solution : — 

Bi-chromate of potash ... 10 grains 
Sulphate of copper .... 20 grains 
Distilled water 1 ounce 

Papers prepared with this are of a pale yel- 
low colour; they may be kept for any length of 
time without injury, and are always ready for 
* Athenaeurn. 



104 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

use. For copying botanical specimens or en- 
gravings, nothing can be more beautiful. After 
the paper has been exposed to the influence of 
sunshine, with the objects to be copied super- 
posed, it is washed over in the dark with a 
solution of nitrate of silver of moderate strength. 
As soon as this is done, a very vivid positive 
picture makes its appearance ; and all the 
fixing these photographic pictures require is, 
well washing in pure water. 

M. Niepce de St. Victor finds that, if a sheet 
of paper on which there is writing, printed 
characters, or a drawing, be exposed for a few 
minutes to the vapour of iodine, and there be 
applied immediately afterwards a coating of 
starch, moistened by slightly acidulated water, 
a faithful tracing of the writing, printing, or 
drawing, will be obtained. M. Niepce has also 
discovered that a great number of substances, 
such as nitric acid, chlorurets of lime and 
mercury, act in a similar manner; and that 
various vapours, particularly those of ammonia, 
have the effect of vivifying the images which 
are obtained by photography. 

In the words of a writer in the North British 
Review: — "While the artist is thus supplied 
with every material for his creative genius, 
the pubhc will derive a new and immediate 
advantage from the productions of the solar 
pencil. The home-faring man — whom fate or 
duty chains to his birth-place, or imprisons in 
his fatherland — will, without the fatigues and 
dangers of travel, scan the beauties and wonders 



SUNLIGHT PICTURES. 105 

of the globe; not in the fantastic or deceitful 
images of a hurried pencil, but, in the very 
picture which would have been painted on his 
own retina, were he magicjtlly transported to 
the scene. The gigantic outline of the Himalaya 
and the Andes will stand self-depicted upoa 
his borrowed retina — the Niagara will pom- 
out before him, in panoramic grandeur, her 
mighty cataract of waters, while the flaming 
volcano will toss into the air her clouds of dust 
and her blazing fragments. The scene will 
change, and there Avill rise before him Egypt's 
colossal pyramids, the temples of Greece and 
Kome, and the gilded mosques and towering 
minarets of eastern magnificence. But with 
not less wonder, and with a more eager and 
affectionate gaze, will he survey those hallowed 
scenes which faith has consecrated and love 
endeared. Painted in its cheerless tints. Mount 
Zion AN-ill stand before him, ' as a field that is 
ploughed ;' Tyre, as a rock on which the fisher- 
men dry their nets ; Gaza, in her prophetic 
* baldness ;* Lebanon, with her cedars prostrate 
among *the howling firs;' Nineveh made as a 
grave, *and seen only in the turf that covers it;' 
and Babylon the great, the golden city, with its 
impregnable walls, its hundred gates of brass, 
now * sitting in the dust, cast up as an heap,' 
covered with * pools of water,' and without 
even the * Arab's tent,' or the * shepherd's fold.' 
But though it is only Palestine in desolation 
that a modern sun can delineate, yet the seas 
which bore on their breast the Divine Ke- 



106 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT. 

deemer, and the everlasting hills which bounded 
his view, stand unchanged by time and the 
elements, and, delineated on the faithful tablet, 
still appeal to us with an immortal interest. 
But the scenes which are thus presented to 
us by the photographer have not merely the 
interest of being truthful representations: they 
form, as it were, a record of every visible event 
that takes place while the picture is delineating. 
The dial-plate of the clock tells the hour and 
minute when it was drawn, and with the day 
of the month, which we know, and the sun's 
altitude, which the shadows on the picture often 
supply, we may find the very latitude of the 
place which is represented. All stationary life 
stands self-delineated on the photograph : — the 
wind, if it blows, will exhibit its disturbing in- 
fluence ; the rain, if it falls, will glisten on the 
house-top; the still clouds will exhibit their 
ever-changing forms ; and even the lightning's 
flash will imprint its fire-streak on the sensitive 
tablet." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Heat, the cause of many wonders— Its universal diffusion and 
apphcation-Storv of a burning-glass-The Augustine friars 
and the Jesuits— Impostures as to the endurance of heat— 
burning mirrors-The blow-pipe— The Giants' Causeway— 
Apphcation of currents of heated air— Travelling by ste^. 

Heat is everywhere present : every body that 
exists contains it in quantity to which we can 
assign no limits. The endless variety of forms 
which are spread over and beautify the surface 
of the globe, are to be traced to its influence. 
Without it, the land and the water would fall 
into one formless and impenetrable mass, and 
the air now essential to life, prove absolutely 
poisonous. We shall find in connexion with it, 
therefore, many extraordinary phenomena. 

When Labat the Jesuit visited the Peruvians, 
he took the naked arm of one of them, and, 
concentrating on it the rays of the sun by 
means of a powerful lens, soon made him 
cry out with pain, while the others looked on 
with wonder, not unmixed with indignation. 
How could this effect be produced ? was instantly 
the question; and, as promptly, the cause was 
declared to be infernal. In vain did Labat 
assert that it was merely natural. The Peru- 

107 



108 ACTION OF HEAT. 

•vians made many attempts to obtain possession 
of the lens in order to destroy it, and deliver 
themselves from the power of that which they 
regarded as able to bring upon them the ven- 
geance of the gods. 

Much surprise has sometimes been awakened 
by an apparent insensibility to intense heat. 
An instance of this occurred when a rivalry 
existed between the Augustine friars and the 
Jesuits. The father-general of the Augustine 
friars was dining mth the Jesuits; and, when 
the table was removed, he entered into a formal 
discourse of the superiority of the monastic 
order, and charged the Jesuits with assuming 
ihe title of '^ fratres,^ while they held not the 
three vows which other monks were obliged to 
consider sacred and binding. The general of 
the Augustine friars was very eloquent and 
very authoritative — and the superior of the 
Jesuits was very unlearned. 

The Jesuit avoided entering the lists of con- 
troversy with the Augustine friar, but arrested 
his triumph by asking him if he ^vould see one 
of his friars, who pretended to be nothing more 
than a Jesuit, and one of the Augustine friars 
who religiously performed the three vows, show 
mstantly Avhich of them would be readier to 
obey his superior ? 

The Augustine friar consented. The Jesuit 
then turning to one of his brothers, the friar 
Mark, who was waiting upon them, said, 
" Brother Mark, our companions are cold ; I 
command you, in virtue of the holy obedience 



T&E JESUITS. 109 

you have sworn to me, to bring here, instantly, 
out of the kitchen-fire, and in your hands, some 
burning coals, that they may warm themselves 
over your hands." Father Mark instantly 
obeyed ; and,tothe astonishment of the Augustine 
friar, brought in his hands a supply of red 
burning coals, and held them to whoever chose 
to warm himself; and, at the command of his 
superior, returned them to the kitchen hearth. 
The general of the Augustine friars, with the 
rest of his brotherhood, stood amazed; he looked 
wistfully on one of his monks, as if he wished 
to command him to do the like. But the 
Augustine monk, who perfectly understood him, 
and saw this was not a time to hesitate, ob- 
served, " Reverend father, forbear, and do not 
command me to tempt God : I am ready to 
fetch you fire in a chaffing- dish, but not in my 
bare hands." The triumph of the Jesuits was 
complete, and it is not necessary to add, that 
" the mirade^^ was noised about, and that the 
Augustine friars could never" account for it, 
notwithstanding their strict performance of the 
three vows ! And yet here was no mystery. 
According to sir James Mackintosh, *^ In the 
Mercure de France^ there is a very curious 
account of experiments made at Naples to 
discover the means by which jugglers have 
appeared to be incombustible. They seem to 
be completely discovered, and chiefly to consist 
in, first, gradually habituating the skin, the 
mouth, throat, and stomach, to great degrees of 
heat; second, in rubbing the skin with hard 
10 



110 ACTION OF HEAT. 

soap, and in covering the tongue with hard 
soap, and over that with a layer of powdered 
g^igar. By these means, the professor at Naples 
is enabled to walk over burning coals, to take 
into his mouth boiling oil, and to wash his 
hands in melted lead. The miracles of several 
saints, the numerous escapes from the fiery 
ordeal, and tricks now played by the Hindoo 
jugglers, are thus perfectly explained; and all 
these prodigies may be performed in a fortnight 
by any apothecary's apprentice." 

Other instances of endurance are merely 
pretended. In country places, a conjurer some- 
times appears in the streets, professing that he 
is able to eat fire ; and yet he only rolls 
together a ball of flax or hemp, lights it, rolls 
round it some more of the same material, slips 
it cunningly into his mouth, and breathes 
through it to revive the flame; arid so long 
as he inspires the air through the nostrils, and 
not through the mouth, he suffers no injury. 
A performer, named Eichardson, in the seven- 
teenth century, pretended to pour melted lead 
upon his tongue ; but it is probable that he 
used the fusible metal formed of bismuth, tin, 
and lead, which melts at a low temperature, 
and which the writer has seen fused on a card, 
and poured into the hand with impunity by a 
person accustomed to handle hot substances. 

Not many years ago, a man named Chaubert 
professed to be incombustible ; but it has been 
proved that the human body is capable of 
bearing a very high degree of heat. IVIen of 



THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY. Ill 

unquestionable integrity liuve surpassed all liis 
wonders. Sir Charles Blngden exposed him- 
self in a heated room where the heat was one 
or two degrees above 2G0°, and remained eight 
minutes in this situation. Eggs and a beef- 
steak were placed on a tin frame, near the 
tliermometer, and in the space of twenty mi- 
nutes the eggs were roasted quite hard, and in 
forty-seven minutes the steak was not only 
dressed, but almost dry. Another beef-steak, 
similarly placed, was rather over-done in 
thirty-three minutes. Chantrey, the celebrated 
sculptor, accompanied by five or six friends, 
also entered a furnace, and, after remaining 
two minutes, brought out a thermometer which 
stood at 320". Some pain was experienced in 
this experiment, but it placed beyond all 
doubt that the human body has a remarkable 
powt-r of enduring heat. Chaubert excited 
lauch wonder by taking phosphorus into his 
mouth ; but, as that substance, when deprived 
of air, will not burn, he always closed his lips, 
and retired to eject the phosphorus immediately 
aiterwards. 

We turn now from the resistance of heat by 
chemical means, to some striking examples of 
its power. 

The name of the Giants' Causeway arose, pro- 
bably, from an idea of the supernatural power, 
entertained in times of ignorance and super- 
stition. And yet it is demonstrated that vast 
masses of rock are to be traced to causes 
strictly natural. Basalt is of very frequent 



112 ACTION OF HEAT. 

occurrence on the surface of the globe, and is 
frequently detected in a variety of volcanoes, 
both extinct and active. The greatest mass ol 
basalt hitherto observed is that in the Deccan, 
which constitutes the surface of many thousand 
square miles of that part of India. In other 
instances, it occurs in horizontal tabular masses, 
and is columnar. Sometimes, the basaltic 
columns are curved, and of this there is a 
beautiful example in the island of Staffa. 
Now basalt is not a crystalline substance, for as 
it is not capable, as all crystals are, of cleavage 
in the line of its planes, or at some angle with 
them, it is concretional. Its structure resem- 
bles an onion, or any bulbous root, for, in the 
centre, is a solid mass, about which are others 
just like the parts of the vegetable 2}roducts 
already mentioned. These portions of basalt 
are at first of an oval form, and then they 
gradually become rudely hexagonal. Some 
non-columnar basalts show no trace of any 
particular arrangement of parts, while others 
have a globular structure, so that when the 
rock becomes much decomposed, it has the 
appearance of numerous bomb-shells and can- 
non-balls cemented together. 

Here, then, we have an extraordinary effect 
of heat. Mr. Gregory Watt took seven hundred 
weight of the substance named rowley rag, 
kept it in fusion more than six hours, and 
cooled it so gradually, that eight days elapsed 
before it was taken from the furnace. The 
shape of the mass was uneven and while the 



THE giants' causeway. 1 13 

thinner portion was, in consequence of more 
rapid cooling, vitreous, the thicker was stony ; 
the one state passing into the other. Numerous 
spheroids were also formed, some being two 
inches in diameter. They were radiated with 
distinct fibres, the latter also forming concentric 
coats, when circumstances were favourable to 
such an arrangement. When the temperature 
had been sufficiently continued, the centres of 
the spheroids became compacted before they 
had attained the diameter of half-an-inch. 
When two spheroids came into contact, no 
penetration ensued ; but the two bodies became 
mutually compressed and separated by a plane, 
well defined, and invested with a rusty colour. 
When several met, they formed prisms. In 
reasoning on these facts, Mr. G. Watt observes: 
** In a stratum composed of an indefinite number 
in superficial extent, but only one in height, 
of impenetrable spheroids, if their peripheries 
should come in contact in the same plane, it 
seems obvious that their mutual action would 
form them into hexagons ; and if these were 
resisted below, and there was no opposing cause 
above them, it seems equally clear that they 
would extend their dimensions upwards, and 
thus form hexagonal prisms, whose length 
might be indefinitely greater than their dia- 
meters." 

That the great power in operation in the 

formation of basaltic columns is heat, appears 

to be indisputable. There is, for example, a 

bed of sandstone in furnaces for smelting 

10» 



114 ACTION OF HEAT. 

metals, and, in the course of time, it requires 
to be repaired. Portions, taken out, on sucli 
occasions, have been found to have a columnar 
appearance : the heat of the furnace having 
changed the form of the substance, not by any 
fiision of its parts, but by a peculiar arrange- 
ment of them, thus giving them the specified 
figure. 

Another astonishing result of this natural 
power is seen in the eruption of a volcano. 
The eye of a traveller, perhaps, as it is turned . 
towards Vesuvius, discerns a dark red spot on 
the mountain's side, issuing from an orifice near 
to the crater. But soon, that deep burning 
light apparently spreads out, or fiows on into a 
long wide stream, descends the entire length of 
the great cone, and reaches to the plain below. 
But, as the first light was seen through and 
behind the mists which follow the departure of 
the sun, so now its extended influence is only 
rendered visible by the increasing gloom. But, 
SLS the eye is still attracted towards this re- 
markable eminence, a pillar of fire is seen 
rising up from the crater high into the air; 
while innumerable lights appear, like so many 
natural fire- works rushing upwards, and falling 
in a glowing shower, on the outer sides of the 
crater, which soon present the aspect of a heap 
of fire. Large and red-hot stones are flung 
forth from time to time, from the same troubled 
source, to fall, roll down the sides of the crater, 
and lose their brightness. 

Mountains that are liable to volcanic action, 



VOLCANOES OF THE MOLUCCAS. 115 

before an eruption takes place, arc generallj 
the most fertile, and the most ;ittractivc of all 
eminences. Illustrations of this remark are 
found upon a magnificent scale in Mexico; and, 
among the rest, that of Jorullo, in the extensive 
intendency of Valladolid, lying on the west 
coast of America, between the intendencies of 
^Mexico and Guadalaxara, (pronounced Quada- 
lahara.) Mechoacan, a part of it, is an expanse 
of table-land which enjoys a fine and temperate 
climate, and is intersected with hills and charm- 
ing valleys, presenting an appearance unusual 
in the torrid zone, of extensive and well-watered 
meadows. On the twenty- ninth of September, 
1759, from the centre of a thousand burning 
cones was thrown up the volcano of Jorullo; a 
mountain of scoriae and ashes, seventeen hun- 
dred feet high, in an extensive plain, and covered 
with most luxuriant vegetation. When plains, 
hills, and valleys, are thus spoken of, the reader 
should remember, that all of them are reared 
upon the lofty chain of the Andes, for volcanic 
eruptions only, so far as we know, take place 
in mountainous regions. 

But some of the most remarkable examples 
are to be met with in the Spice Islands, or 
Moluccas. The pointed and conical mountains, 
which characterize this group of islands, exhibit 
great fertility. Nothing can surpass the rich- 
ness of vegetation with which their sides are 
covered, nor the balmy healthfulness of the 
breezes that encircle round them, to temper the 
heats of the sultry zone. But the nature ot 



116 ACTION OF HEAT. 

these mountains is closely connected with vol- 
canic action ; so that, in fearful apprehension, 
Ave might look at each one of these beautiful 
peaks, as if it were destined one day to be torn 
from its station and thrown into the sea. 

*' I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, 
and roll thee down from the rocks, and will 
make thee a burnt mountain," was one of the 
Divine denunciations against Babylon, Jer. li, 
25. Judgment has not thus fallen on Ternate, 
one of the most lovely of the cluster just ad- 
verted to ; but the top of the highest rock has 
been torn off, and hurled from a height of five 
or six thousand feet, into the sea. A huge 
gap was left behind, which seemed to a traveller 
when standing on the edge, like a deep valley, 
or ravine, betwixt two mountains. As the 
portion rent away in this tremendous struggle 
was split into fragments of various sizes, there 
is, besides, a vast pile at the water's edge, a 
road, or causeway, strewed with half- vitrified 
pieces of rock and cinders, from the margm of 
the rift to the dechvity of the mountain; so 
that the island, so lovely under other aspects, 
presents on this side a fearful scene of desola- 
tion. What a striking comment on the words, 
*' I will make thee a burnt mountain;" — I will 
tear off thy summit, shiver it into ten thousand 
pieces, and therewith overwhelm and destroy 
the natural verdure of thy sides, which once 
looked so goodly and so fair ! Some time in 
March, 1839, another eruption took place at 
Ternate ; so that, long before these ejected 



BURNING MIRRORS. 117 

matters could yield to the decomposing action 
of the atmosphere, and afFord a soil for vege- 
table growth, another layer, of equally forlorn 
and broken kind, was scattered over them. 

In connexion with these astounding pheno- 
mena, it may be remarked that an apparatus has 
recently been contrived called the fire-annihilator, 
the origin of which is not a little curious. It 
is said that the inventor observed that the smoke 
hovering over a burning mountain diminished 
its fury, and that, on analysing it and combining 
similar elements, he discovered the means of 
extinguishing fires, and thus of arresting at the 
outset what might otherwise prove a tremendous 
calamity. 

Many processes of art, like the operations of 
nature, are dependent on heat. By this agent, 
the most obdurate masses soften like wax, 
and yield to the forms which are demanded by 
our wants and our tastes ; and compounds, knit 
together by stubborn affinities, are resolved by 
it into their original elements. The baron Von 
Tchivanhausen constructed a burning mirror 
in 1687, five feet three inches in breadth, and 
reflecting the solar rays with extraordinary 
power. When exposed to its force, wood took 
fire, and continued to burn, notwithstanding a 
most violent wind ; and water, contained in an 
earthen vessel, quickly boiled, so that eggs 
were cooked, and the liquid soon after evapo- 
rated. Copper and silver were fused in a few 
minutes, and slate was transformed into a kind 
of black glass, which, when held by a pair of 



118 ACTION OF HEAT. 

pincers, could be drawn out into filaments. 
This mirror afterwards came into the pos- 
session of the king of France, and was kept in 
the Jardins du Roi. Other mirrors have been 
formed of d liferent substances. At the Poly- 
technic Institution, some years ago, there were 
two metallic discs placed at the extreme ends 
of the great hall, and when a vessel of burning 
coals was held in the focus of one, and a piece 
of meat in the focus of the other, the latter was 
cooked with marvellous rapidity by a simple 
and apparently an unimportant instrument. 

The blow-pipe has immense power. Two 
volumes of hydrogen, and one of oxygen gas, 
when pure, form a mixture which produces in 
this instrument intense heat, and most substances 
may be fused by the flame. In the experiments 
of Dr. E. Clarke, lime, strontion, and alumine, 
yielded to its powers. The alkalis were fused 
and volatilized almost the instant they came 
into contact with the flame : and rock crystal 
became a transparent glass full of bubbles. 
Opal changed into a pearly white enamel, and 
flint into one that was frothy. Blue sapphire 
was melted ; and Peruvian enamel changed 
into a transparent and colourless glass. Lapis 
lazuli fused into transparent glass, with a slight 
tinge of green. Iceland spar, next in difficulty, 
as to fusion, to its native magnesia, melted at 
last into a limpid glass, giving out an amethyst- 
coloured flame. Diamond first became opaque, 
and was then gradually volatilized. Gold, 
mixed with borax as a flux, was fused; pla- 



SMELTING ORES. 119 

tin a wire melted the instant it was brought 
into contact with the flame, and ran down in 
drops; brass wire burned witli a green flame; 
:;d iron wire with brilliant sparks. 
At a recent meeting of the British Associa- 
tion, Dr. Faraday exhibited some diamonds, 
which he had received from M. Dumas, which 
liad, by the action of intense heat, been con- 
verted into coke. In one case, the heat of the 
flame of oxide of carbon and oxygen had been 
used; in another, the oxyhydrogen flame ; and, 
in the third, the galvanic arc of flame from a 
Bunsen battery of one hundred pairs. In the 
]ast case, the diamond w^as perfectly converted 
into a piece of coke; and, in the others, the 
fusion and carbonaceous formation were evident. 
Specimens in w^hich the character of graphite 
was taken by the diamond were also shown. 
The electrical characters of these diamonds 
were stated also to have been changed, the 
diamond being an insulator, while coke is a 
conductor. 

A rope, nearly three miles long, was recently 
lying on the verge of the borough of Gateshead, 
which was shortly before a stone in the bowels 
of the earth. Smelted, the stone yielded iron. 
The iron was converted into wire. The wire 
was brought to the wire-rope manufactory of 
Messrs. K. S. Newall and Co., at the Teams, near 
Gateshead, and there twisted into a line 4,660 
yards long. It was supposed to be the stout- 
est rope of the kind that was ever made. It 
weighs twenty tons, five hundredweights, and 



120 ACTION OF HEAT. 

cost the purchasers upwards of £1,134. It was 
intended for the incline on the Edinburgh and 
Glasgow Eaihvaj, near the latter city. A 
rope of hemp of equal strength would weigh 
thirty- three tons and-a-half, and cost about 
three hundred pounds more. It would also 
entail greater expense while in operation, 
(owing to its greater weight,) and would sooner 
wear out. 

" The process," says the Pharmaceutical 
Journal^ " for purifying and agglomerating 
caoutchouc, preparatory to its being cut into 
sheets, and also for effecting the latter opera- 
tion, are due to the ingenuity of M. Sievier. 
The general principle is this : — Pieces of caout- 
chouc, mixed, as they are in their native state, 
with various impurities, are put into a strong 
metallic drum, through w^hich passes an axle, 
studded with chisel-shaped teeth. The interior 
of the drum is supplied with similar ones, but 
stationary. Therefore, when the axle is made 
to revolve, the caoutchouc becomes subjected 
to a most powerful rending and kneading mo- 
tion, in the course of which sufficient heat is 
evolved, notwithstanding a current of cold 
water continually passes through the drum, 
to agglutinate the material into a compact 
mass. This mass is now subjected to the 
pressure of a powerful screw apparatus, and 
made to assume the form of a cuboid, from 
which sheets of caoutchouc may be eventually 
cut by the rapid vibratory action of a knife, 
kept moistened with water. As solvents for 



CURRENTS OF HEATED AIH. 121 

caoutchouc, equal })urts of coal naptlia and 
turpentine are commonly used; and, of late, 
the bisulphuret of carbon has been much 
employed."' 

Mr. J. Wishaw has lately shown the ad- 
vantages arising from the application of cur- 
rents of heated air to the foHowing pur- 
poses: seasoning timber, generally; preserving 
timber, purifying feathers, bhmkets, clothing, 
etc. ;. drying coffee, roasting coliee, japanning 
leather for table-covers, and other purposes; 
drying silks, drying yarn, drying distillers' 
tuns, drying papier-mache, and drying vul- 
canized india-rubber. The process has also 
been successfully tested for drying loaf-sugar, 
drying printing-paper, or setting the ink, to 
enable books to be bound more quickly than 
usual; drying starch, and converting it into 
dextine, or British gum; and preserving meat. 
It has been also stated, that sixty suits of 
clothes, which had belonged to persons who 
had died of the plague in Syria, had been sub- 
ject to the process of purification, at a tem- 
perature of about 240°, and at\erwards worn 
by sixty persons ; not one of whom ever gave 
the slightest symptom of being affected by the 
malady. In describing these processes, the 
writer referred to the mode adopted by the 
North American Indians for preserving the meat 
f the buffalo — that of drying it in the sun ; 
1 1 id stated that heated currents had been ap- 
])lied successt'ully. The discovery seems hiiihly 
important for shipping; as, instead of sailors 
11 



122 ACTION OF HEAT. 

consuming salted provisions from one month's 
end to another, thej might thus have an occa- 
sional supply of fresh meat. Meat treated in 
this way occupies much less space, too, and is 
much lighter in weight. It is believed 'that the 
juices of the meat contain about seven-eighths 
of watery moisture : this, the current of heated 
air removes, leaving the albumen and all the 
flavour and nutrition behind. 

That in the production of steam heat is of 
incalculable value, there needs no proof We 
derive special advantage from it, in the results 
of that machinery which astonish us by their 
magnitude, as well as by their elegance. Steam 
wafts us, in a few hours, from one extremity 
of the land to the other, and renders America, 
once called the New World, accessible in a 
few days. 

Another instance of its application, often 
overlooked, is thus stated in the Quarterly 
Review: — ^' That extraordinary line of steam 
communication between England and her east- 
ern possessions, (somewhat oddly called the 
overland ]om:i\Qj^) of which Australia and New 
Zealand will hereafter form the extreme 
branches. The creation of the last twelve 
years, this communication has already acquired 
a sort of maturity of speed and exactness, not- 
withstanding the enormous distances traversed, 
and the changes necessary in transit from sea to 
sea. The Anglo-Indian mail in its two sec- 
tions, and including passengers and corre- 
spondence, possesses a sort of individuality as 



THE OVERLAND JOURNEY. 123 

the greatest and most singular line of inter- 
course on the globe. Two of the first nations 
of Europe, France and Austria, struggle for 
the privilege of carrying this mail across their 
territories. Traversing the length of the Medi- 
terranean, it is received on the waters of the 
ancient Nile — Cairo and the Pyramids are 
passed in its onward course — the desert is 
traversed with a speed which mocks the old 
cavalcades of camels and loitering Arabs — it is 
re-embarked on the Red Sea, near a spot 
sacred in scriptural history — the promontory 
projecting from the heights of Mount Sinai, the 
shores of Mecca and Medina are passed in its 
rapid course down this great gulf — it emerges 
through the straits of Babelmandel into the 
Indian seas — to be distributed thence by dif- 
ferent lines to all the great centres of Indian 
government and commerce, as well as to our 
more remote dependencies in the straits of 
Malacca and the Chinese seas. There is a 
certain majesty in the simple outline of a route 
like this, traversing the most ancient seats of 
empire, and what we are taught to regard as 
among the earliest abodes of man — and now 
ministering to the connexion of England with 
that great sovereignty she has conquered, or 
created, in the east ; more wonderful, with one 
exception, than any of the empires of anti- 
quity ; and, percliance, also, more important to 
the general destinies of mankind." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The magic swan— Properties of the magnet— The mariners 
compass — The process of magnetizing— The dip of the 
needle— Magnetic properties in various substances. 

A MAGICIAN of former days had a figure of a 
swan, which floated on a vessel of water, round 
the rim of which w^ere placed the twenty-four 
letters of the alphabet. Addressing the specta- 
tors, he was accustomed to ask for a name to be 
given him, and it was correctly spelt by the 
swan, as it moved from one letter to another 
till it had indicated the whole. A little philo- 
sophy, in this instance, produced repeatedly 
great astonishment. A magnetic bar was placed 
in the swan, and the performer had a powerful 
magnet concealed in his own dress, and the 
swan, of course, followed his motions. Thus, 
if he wanted the swan to spell " Selina," he 
moved first to S, then to E, and so on, through 
the successive letters of that name, till the w^ord 
was spelt. On one occasion, hoAvever, the per- 
former was not a little disconcerted— the swan 
stopped in its course and refused to move. 
Again and again the effort w-as made, but it 
was utterly in vain ; the magician could only 
124 



OXIDE OF IKON. 125 

acknowledge that some person ^vas in the room 
aware of his secret, and counteraf^ting hia 
movements. Sir Francis l^Iake Dehival avowed 
liimselfto be the person: he produced a magnet 
Avhich he had used on facing the performer as 
lie stood at the table ; the swan was, therefore, 
placed between two attractive instruments, and, 
of course, remained immovable. 

A magnet may be described as a piece of 
iron, which possesses the property of turning 
towards the poles of the earth. This extra- 
ordinary quality does not necessarily belong to 
all specimens of iron in its native state, but 
only to one kind or variety called the oxide, on 
account of its union with oxygen in a particular 
condition. The possession of a special quality 
in this ore of iron was not discovered from its 
polarity, or power of turning to the poles of the 
earth, but from its property of attracting small 
pieces of iron, which are not magnetic; and 
lience it was called the loadstone. 

There are many uses to which the magnet 
has been applied, and there is a probability of 
its being much more extensively employed; but 
its most important application is in the con- 
struction of the mariners' compass, which ren- 
ders it possible freely to traverse the ocean. 
There has been some controversy as to the 
discovery of the directive power of the magnet, 
and the invention of the compass. It was once 
supposed to have been unknown until about the 
thirteenth century, but it is now generally 
acknowledged that the Chinese were acquainted 
11* 



126 MAGNETISM. 

with the compass at least eleven hundred and 
fourteen years before the birth of Christ. At 
the commencement of the thirteenth century, it 
was certainly in use in Europe ; for cardinal de 
Yitty mentions it with some particularity, in a 
work entitled " The History of the East," where 
he says, " The iron needle, after contact with 
the loadstone, constantly turns to the north 
star, which, as the axis of the firmament, re- 
mains immovable, while the others revolve; 
and hence it is essentially necessary to those 
navigating on the ocean." This shows that 
the compass was not invented in Europe, as 
commonly believed, by Gioia, a pilot, and a 
native of Pasitano, a small village, situated near 
Amalfi, who lived about the end of the thir- 
teenth century, but, by him, it appears to have 
been made fully available for the purposes of 
navigation. 

As used by sailors in the Mediterranean at 
that period, it was a very uncertain guide ; for 
the compass then consisted of a magnetic needle 
attached to two straws on a piece of cork, 
floating on water in a basin, or glass vase. Gioia, 
therefore, placed the magnetic needle upon a 
pivot, so that it was free to move in any direc- 
tion, and thus prevented that inconvenience and 
inaccuracy of observation which must have 
resulted from the motion of the needle floating 
on water, agitated by the tossing of the vessel. 
The magnetic needle was afterwards attached to 
a card divided into thirty-two points, called the 
rose des vents, so that the direction in which a 



IRON MAGNETIZED 127 

vessel was sailing could bo minutely dotorinined, 
and the means of ascertaininp: it was no loncrer 
dependent on the accuracy of the eye in mea- 
suring distances. The mariners' compass is 
still constructed in tlie same manner, but is 
inclosed in a box with a glass cover, and is 
thus preserved fi om the influence of the wind. 
Another improvement has been made in so 
suspending the box that, however the vessel 
may be pitched by the waves, and rolled from 
side to side, the needle remains in a horizontal 
j30sition, and gives accurate indications of the 
direction in which the vessel is sailing. 

In addition to the properties already men- 
tioned, the loadstone has the power of commu- 
nicating its virtues to any piece of hard iron or 
steel, and that, without diminution of strength ; 
so that, if but one piece had been discovered, it 
would have been sufficient for the production 
of all the magnets that have ever been formed 
by man. Other means may be adopted of 
accomplishing this purpose. Take a bar of 
iron, and, striking it several times with a 
liammer, it will become magnetic. This ex- 
periment may be performed with a common 
poker. The magnetism thus communicated to a 
steel bar will be much increased in power, if it 
be supported on another bar during the process 
of hammering. 

Gay Lussac, a French chemist of great 
celebrity, discovered a method of making mag- 
nets by a process so simple, that it may, in all 
cases, be applied successfully. Take a piece of 



128 MAGNETISM. 

tliin iron wire and suspend it in a verticil 
position. The earth itself being a magn.^t, 
induces a magnetic power in the wire. Tc. 
render this permanent, twist the wire till it- 
breaks^ and a magnet will be obtained. 

Mrs. Somerville, well known for her excellent 
philosophical w^orks, made some experiment£> 
on the effect of solar light in the production of 
permanent magnetism. If half of a small 
sewing needle be covered with paper, and the 
exposed part be placed in the violet or indigo 
ray, magnetism will be induced, and the same 
effect will be produced in a smaller degree by 
the blue and green. 

To describe but one more mode ; magnets 
are readily made by what is called the single 
touch, and this is perhaps the most simple and 
most effective way of proceeding. Place the 
steel bar to be magnetized on a table, or any other 
convenient place, and, as nearly as possible, 
north and south, which position is called by 
philosophers, the magnetic meridian. This 
being done, draw over it perpendicularly a 
strong magnet. In this operation, it is neces- 
sary to begin at one end of the bar, and draw 
the magnet over its entire length, and then 
again in the same direction. It must not be 
drawn backward and forward, for the power 
communicated in one direction, would be de- 
stroyed by an opposite motion. 

The following experiments are very instruct- 
ive: — Suspend a magnetic needle by a silk cord, 
60 that it will hang in a horizontal position. 



DIFFUSION OF MAGNETISM. 129 

Then bring it over the centre of a large 
magnet lying upon a table, and it will still 
retain its position ; but, as it is brought near 
to either end, it will be bent downwards, and, 
at the extremities, w^ill be vertical. This ex- 
periment illustrates what is called the dip of 
the magnet. On the equator of the earth, the 
needle is horizontal, or nearly so, but as it is 
brought near the poles it dips, and over either 
magnetic pole would be vertical. The reason 
of this is evident from the former experiment : 
at the equator, each pole of the needle is 
attracted in an equal degree by the north and 
south poles of the earth ; but, if we proceed 
northward, the north pole of the magnet will 
be more attracted than the south, and point 
towards it until at last it becomes vertical. 
The poles of the earth's rotation, that is, the 
points which would form the terminations of 
its axis, did it revolve on one, are not the 
magnetic poles ; nor is the equator of the earth 
the magnetic equator. They do not, however, 
greatly vary. 

Take, also, a bar magnet, and, placing it upon 
a table, cover it with a sheet of writing-paper. 
Then sprinkle upon it some fine iron filings, 
and they will arrange themselves in very 
beautiful curves round the magnet, showing, as 
it is supposed, the circulation of the magnetic 
fluid. From this experiment, we learn that the 
magnetic power is greatest at the poles: and 
this is true in reference to the magnetism of 
the earth, which increases in power from the 



130 MAGNETISM. 

magnetic equator to the magnetic poles of the 
earth, as determined by a great variety of inte- 
resting and delicate experiments. Sir Graves 
C. Haughton has communicated a paper to the 
June number of Brewster's Philosophical 
Magazine^ entitled "Experiments proving the 
common nature of Magnetism, Cohesion, Ad- 
hesion, and Viscosity." 

This paper contains two separate sets of 
experiments, -the first of which relates to the 
attraction the magnetic needle has for various 
mineral, vegetable, and animal substances : and 
it is not a little remarkable that antimony and 
bismuth, as well as copper, tin, and cadmium, 
are, in these experiments, shown to have attract- 
ive powers for the magnetic needle; though, 
in those made by Dr. Faraday, he has ranged 
them amongst the class of dia- magnetics, that 
is, of those that exhibited repulsion. Arsenic, 
too, which he found so intractable, was made, 
in the present experiments, to assume the real 
magnetic character, that is to say, the power of 
attracting and repelling, by being kept for a 
short time in contact with a bar magnet. 
Iodine, likewise, was found, on bringing it near 
the needle, to be able to attract it. 

In most of these experiments, the needle Avas 
made to attach itself to the substances by being 
forced towards them by a magnet, which was 
gently withdrawn after contact was so effected. 
In this way, and by a reference to the degrees 
of the compass traversed by the needle, a hair 
of the head, or a spark of diamond, can be 



DIFFUSION OF MAGNETISM. 131 

accurately measured. The strength of the 
needle in its movement on a pivot was ascer- 
tained by azimuths, of which a detailed account 
is given. 

The remainder of the memoir, which is con- 
tained in a supplementary number of the Maga- 
zine, is devoted to a detail of about live hundred 
experiments, in which non-ferruginous needles 
were made, by a modification of the magnetic 
needle, of which they formed a portion, to 
attach themselves to the same substances as in 
the preceding experiments. Thus, for instance, 
needles of most of the remarkable metals, as 
well as of glass, were found to have a strong 
affinity for nearly every kind of substance, 
whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, if its 
density was greater than that of cork or char- 
coal. Brass siu-passed all the metals in its 
power of attraction, and, w^hat is most remark- 
able, the magnetic needle was the lowest of all 
in the scale, showing not much more than one- 
third of the attractive energy of soft iron. 
Every substance of a crystalline or vitreous 
character exhibited remarkable magnetic pro- 
perties, and this could not be mistaken, as it 
might be heightened at pleasure by contact 
with either pole of a powerful magnet. Towards 
the close of the experiments, the curious dis- 
covery was made, that needles of ivory, mother- 
of-peail, tortoise-shell, horn, etc., were singu- 
larly magnetic, and this is traced to the albumen 
and gelatine they contained; and the inference 
is diawn, from this and other facts, that the 



132 MAGNETISM. 

cohesive, adhesive, and viscous properties of 
bodies are owing to real magnetic qualities, 
and that, by drying, albuminous, gelatinous, 
and glutinous fluids constitute various kinds of 
glass, which view is supported by what takes 
place with the gelatinous hydrate of silicium. 

*' The preceding experiments," says the wri- 
ter, " include a vast variety of substances in 
the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, 
that exhibit such strong attractive affinities 
for one another, that, however much they may 
differ in their external appearances, and in 
their very natures, they are bound together by 
common bonds that connect them all into a 
single family ; for w^e find the metal attaching 
itself to crystalline, animal, and vegeteible 
substances; and, again, the crystal, whether we 
call it by the name of diamond, salt, or sugar- 
candy, connecting itself readily to metallic, 
animal, and vegetable bodies. In a similar 
way, animal bodies attach themselves to those 
that are mineral and vegetable; and, to com- 
plete the circle, the vegetable kingdom, by its 
woods, its gums, its lac, and its resins, is con- 
nected with them all." 



CHAPTER IX. 

rhe electrical kite— Candles mag:ically lighted— St. Elmo's fire 
—The chronoscope— The electric clock— The electric tele- 
graph— Sub-marine telegraphs — The overruling providence 
of God. 

In the auto-biographical memoirs of sir John 
Barrow, lately published, he says, when de- 
scribing some of the employments of his youth : 
" I had fallen in with an account of Benjamin 
Franklin's electrical kite, and a kite being a 
very common object with school-boys, and a 
string steeped in salt-water with a glass- 
handle to it not difficult to be had, I speedily 
ilew my kite, and obtained abundance of 
sparks (Hke those obtained from an electrical 
machine.) An old woman, curious to see what 
I was about, was too tempting an opportunity 
not to give her a shock, which so frightened 
her, that she spread abroad in the village that 
I was no better tlian I should be, for that I was 
drawing down fire from heaven. The alarm 
ran through the village, and my poor mother 
entreated me to lay aside my kite." 

It was recently announced by a professor of 
magic, that several hundred candles would be 
lighted by one pistol-shot. Accordingly, the 
12 133 



134 ELECTRICITY. 

stage appeared in partial darkness, but, through 
the gloom, ranges of candles might be indis- 
tinctly perceived at different heights from the 
floor ; and, in a minute or two, the performer 
was seen to enter and discharge a pistol, when 
all the candles were instantly ignited, and the 
array of magical instruments appeared strongly 
illuminated, ready to be employed in the 
subsequent exploits — an effect always followed 
by enthusiastic acclamations. And yet there 
is no difficulty in explaining this prodigy. 
Candles, carefully prepared to ignite readily, 
might have above them an arrangement of 
wires, with the point of a wdre just over each 
wick, and the whole being connected with an 
electrical battery, they could be ignited in- 
stantly, at a moment's notice. The instant 
of the performer's entering, might be the signal 
for the discharge of the battery by others, and 
the report of the pistol would prevent any 
sound being heard on the removal of the wires, 
which the previous darkness had effectually 
concealed. 

Lord Napier says, that when he was in the 
Mediterranean, some years ago, and during an 
a^^^ul thunderstorm, he was retiring to rest, 
when he heard suddenly a cry, from those alofl, 
of "St. Elmo and St. Anne!" which induced 
him again to go on deck. On observing the 
appearance of the masts, the maintop-gallant 
mast-head was completely enveloped in a blaze 
of pale phosphoric light ; the other mast-heads 
presented a similar appearance ; the flame pre 



ST. Elmo's fire. 135 

serving its intensity for eight or ten minutes, 
and then gnidually becoming fainter. Yet this 
appearance, which superstition declared to be 
miraculous, was only electrical ; for, while the 
solar heat is converting into vapour the water 
and moisture of the earth, electricity is freely 
disengaged. " The clouds which this power 
forms are in different electrical conditions, 
though the electricity of the atmosphere, when 
serene, is invariably the same. Hence the 
descent of clouds towards the earth, their mu- 
tual approach, the force of atmospherical cur- 
rents, and the ever-varying agencies of heat 
and cold convert the aerial envelope of the 
globe into a complete electrical apparatus ; 
spontaneously exhibiting, in a variety of forms, 
the play of the conflict of its antagonist 
powers. At the close of a sultry day, and 
above level plains, the opposite electricities of 
the earth and the air effect their re-union in 
noiseless flashes of lightning, illuminating, as it 
were, in far-spread sheets, the whole circuit of 
the horizon, and the entire canopy of the 
clouds. At other times, the same elements 
light up tlie arctic constellations with their 
restless wildfires — now diffusing their phos- 
phoric flame, and flitting around in fitful 
gleams, and now shooting up their auroral 
columns, advancing, retreating, and contending, 
as if in mimicry of mortal strife."* 

That electricity and magnetism are identical, 
is evident from many experiments. If a sewing- 
* Edinburgh Review. 



136 



ELECTRICITY. 



needle be placed in a wire, twisted in that form 
called a helix, and a shock of electricity be 
then passed through it, from a Lejden jar, the 
needle will be magnetized. The form' of the 
wire, and the manner of placing the needle, are 
shown in the figure. 




Again, if m be a piece of soft iron, of a horse- 
shoe shape, and surrounded 
with copper - wire covered 
with a non-conducting sub- 
stance, it will become power- 
fully magnetic on connect- 
ing the ends of the wire with 
a galvanic battery. If this 
be only of a moderate size, 
and a keeper, i, be attached 
to M, it will suspend w, repre- 
senting a very heavy weight. 
Mr. Barlow has so ar- 
ranged a globe, as to identify 
the dip of the needle with electricity, a current 
of which appears to be always passing round the 
earth. At g, in the opposite diagram, is a globe 
having a wire covered with silk, coiled entirely 
over it, from one pole, round and round to the 
other. The ends of this wire dip into two cups, 
p and N, connected mth the poles of a galvanic 
battery. When the current passes from this, the 




laECTniC CLOCK. 




small and delicately balanced magnets, m^ will 
show polarity, and dip, just the same as in the 
earth itself. 

Mr. Bain's electric clock is • a remarkable 
contrivance. Nothing can be more satisfactory 
or complete. Allowing for wear and tear of 
materials from friction, and the oxidating in- 
fluence of the atmosphere, the perpetual motion 
appears to be realized. As long as the elec- 
tricity of the earth continues, or, in other 
words, as long as the laws of nature last, so 
long will Mr. Bain's clock continue its oscilla- 
tions, and register the transit of time. The 
pendulum conducts, and is the treasury of that 
power, and two simple wheels and their attach- 
ments, with the dead escapement, complete the 
machine. By an ingenious provision, Mr. 
Bain's electric clock at the manufactory extin- 
guishes the gas-light which illuminates its 
dial, at half-past twelve precisely. 

Mr. Bain has invented and patented another 
kind of electric clock, the clock l)eing in Glas- 
12» 



188 ELECTRICITY. 

gow, and the pendulum in Edinburgh. By 
means of the electric telegraph along the rail- 
way, constructed by Mr. Bain, he intimated his 
wish that the pendulum at the oflier end of the 
line should be put in motion. The clock was 
placed in the station-house in Glasgow, the 
pendulum belonging to it in the station-house 
at Edinburgh, the two being forty- six miles 
apart. They were joined by means of the wire 
of the telegraph, in such a manner as that, by a 
current of electricity, the machinery of the 
clock in Glasgow was made to move correctly, 
according to the vibrations of the electrical 
pendulum in Edinburgh. Thus, in like man- 
ner, were England and Scotland united in one 
great chronometrical alliance, a single elec- 
trical pendulum of this description, placed in 
the Observatory at Greenwich, would give the 
astronomical time correctly throughout the 
country. 

The electric telegraph may be said to have 
originated in a trivial incident. It occurred to 
professor Oersted, of Copenhagen, to try the 
effect of a galvanic current on the needle of the 
compass. He found it, on making the experi- 
ment, deflected, that is, turned aside from its 
usual bearing of due north and south. Pro- 
fessor Wheatstone applied this result very in-^ 
geniously. He arranged a series of needles, 
mounted like that of the compass, and found 
that he could turn any of these aside by gal- 
vanic currents, while the others remained at 
rest. It was evident, therefore, that if each 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 



139 



needle ^vcre supposed to denote a letter, any 
Jetters might thus be indicated ; and, conse* 




quoniiy, if an arrangement of needles standing 
for so many letters, respectively, were placed at 



140 ELECTRICITY. 

the distance of fifty or a hundred miles, and 
any of them were acted on by means of wires 
traversing the distance, a message could be 
despatched at one end of the line, and read off 
at the other from the deflected needles, by any 
person duly acquainted with the arrangement. 
A similar set of needles at the opposite end, 
would enable him, as certainly, to transmit a 

. reply. 

The engraving represents the front of the 
telegraph, exhibiting the index, as it is denomi- 
nated. The wires, which are suspended through 
the length of the line, are attached at either 
end to the telegraphic instruments, a branch 
wire being fastened to a large metallic surface, 

. imbedded in the earth for completing the elec- 
tric current. When at rest, the handles are 
down, and the pointers remain in their vertical 
position. The signals are given by two mag- 
netic needles, or pointers, each suspended ver- 
tically on an axis passing through the dial, and, 
behind, another pointer is fixed on each cor- 
responding axis. A portion of the conducting 
wire, many yards in length, is coiled round the 
galvanometer frame, in which the magnet 
moves, so as to subject the magnet to the multi- 
plied deflecting force of the electric current. 

The battery is the motive power of the ma- 
chine, occupying the same relative position to 
it, as the boiler does to the locomotive ; for, 
though it does not produce any immediate 
result on the works, yet the part it performs in 
the undertaking is essential. While travelling, 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, 



141 



Mr, Cooke found great inconvenience to result 
from the spilling of the acid solution used in 
Smee's batteries ; and, from this, he was led 
to consider if the substitution of fine white 
Shanklin sand, saturated with the diluted acid, 
would not avoid this difficulty. Experiments 
having confirmed the truth of his conjecture, 
the change was permanently arranged, and it 
was subsequently found so advantageous, that 




the same method was tried in the permanent 
batteries, and, in like manner, the result has 
proved satisfactory. At present, the generator 
resembles, in its principal feat^ures, the one 



142 ELECTRICITY. 

known as Wollas ton's trough ; and it is so 
arranged, that the series of plates of copper and 
amalgamated zinc, arranged for the evolution 
of the electric fluid, admit of being placed in a 
corresponding series of cells, filled with well- 
washed and dry sand. The United Service 
Gazette states, that all that is necessary in order 
to use the instrument is, slightly to moisten the 
sand with diluted sulphuric acid. 

The conducting wires are, at their ends, of 
less diameter, and are so arranged as to form 
the coiled magnets. Those in the diagram are 
seen in connexion with the works ; the electric 
current, taking the course indicated by the 
arrows, occasions the deflection of the needle. 

The following engraving represents the in- 
terior of the machine, and shows the means by 
which the magnet is connected with the electric 
current. The parts lettered a are the key-shafls, 
which, on being turned to the right or left by a 
handle, pushes one of the springs, c, from its 
point of contact, d, and, by changing the course 
of the electric current, produces a corresponding 
change in the position of the needle. 

In making a communication to the person 
stationed at the point where he wishes the 
information to be received, the operator, by 
turning the handle to the right or left, breaks 
the electric current; then, pressing the wire 
against pins connected with the battery- poles, 
the coils of wire receive their full deflective 
force, and attract the magnetic needles to either 
side, according to the coui'se of the current. 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 



143 



Thus, if the stream of electricity passes into the/ 
coil on the right, the upper part of the needle 
^vill be attracted towards it; if the stream passes 
into the coil pn the left, then the needle will, in 
like manner, be attracted to it; thus, giving the 




whole motion necessary to the pointers. The 
time which elapses between the moving of the 



144 ELECTRICITY. 

handles and the effect on the pointers, is im- 
perceptible, though we must believe that it 
really follows it. The dial is divided into five 
circles, each containing a number of letters, or 
signs. The left-hand needle moving to the left 
twice, gives a; three times, b; once to the right 
and once to the left, c; once to the lefl and once 
to the right, d; once to the right, e; twice,/; 
three times, g. The order is then taken up by 
the right-hand needle moving once to the left 
for h; twice for i; three times for k; once to 
the right and once to the left for I; once to the 
left, and once to the right, for m; once to the 
right for n; twice for o; and three times for p. 
The remaining signs are made by two needles 
working conjointly, so that the simultaneous 
movement of the two, once to the left, indicates 
r; twice for s; three times for t; once to the 
right, and once to the left, for u; once to the 
right for w; twice for w; and three times for y. 
At the end of every word given, the left-hand 
needle, moving once to the right, to the cross, 
indicates that the word is coDipleted. If the 
receiver understands the word, he signifies it by 
moving the same pointer twice to the left, and 
twice to the right, which means yes; if the 
communication is not understood, then the 
needle points twice to the right, and twice to the 
left, which indicates no. The original word is 
then repeated; if figures are wanted, the mo- 
tions for each letter are doubled. Previously 
to giving a signal, the attention of the operator 
is called by the ringing of a bell, which is 



RAILWAY TELEGRAPH. 145 

accomplished by an apparatus as simple as it is 
ingenious.* 

That communications by this means may 
often be of great importance, is evident, from 
many newspaper paragraphs. The following 
appeared in the early part of 1847 : " On Friday 
evening the following message was received at 
the Chesterfield station: *Tell Derby, a Mr. H. 
has escaped from the York Asylum, and is 
supposed to have fire-arms about his person. 
Search all the trains from York. He is tali, 
has a crooked nose, and has a green coat with 
pockets at the side. Tell the police fo look 
out.' To this message another succeeded from 
Leeds : * He is caught at Leeds ; they have him 
quite secure.' " 

An establishment has lately been opened 
near the Bank of England, in which telegraphic 
intelligence may be despatched, or received, in 
all the principal towns of our country. The 
difficulties which have existed in reference to 
sub-marine telegraphs appear to have been 
overcome; for the time occupied from the com- 
mencement of carrying the telegraph across 
Portsmouth harbour, and transmitting signals, 
does not occupy a quarter- of-an-hour. The 
telegraph, which has the appearance of an 
ordinary rope, is coiled into one of the dockyard 
boats, one end of it being made fast on shore ; 
and, as the boat is pulled across, the telegraphic 

♦ For a fullei account of the electric telegraph, see " The 
Visitor," for January, February, and March, 1848; from 
which many facts, now given, have been taken. 
13 



146 ELECTRICITY. 

rope is gradually paid out over the stern, its 
superior gravity causing it to sink to the bot- 
tom immediately. The telegraph consists of 
but this line ; and, unlike those along the 
various railways, requires no return wires to 
perfect the circuit. The electric fluid is trans- 
mitted from the batteries in the dockyard, 
through the submersed insulated wire to the 
opposite shore; the fluid returning to the nega- 
tive pole through the water without the aid of 
any metallic conductor, except a short piece of 
wire thrown over the dockyard parapet into the 
water,* and connecting it with the batteries. 
The fact of the water acting as a ready return 
conductor, is estabhshed beyond question. In 
1842, Mr. Snow Harris, when proving the 
efficiency of his lightning-conductors in his 
experiments from this dockyard to the Orestes, 
exemplified that water would serve to complete 
the electric circuit. On that occasion, the 
distance traversed by the return current through 
the water was but trifling compared with the 
space accomplished in the present instance. 
The batteries used are Smee's; and a very 
delicate and accurate galvanic detector, invented 
by Mr. Hay, the chemical lecturer of the dock- 
yard, has also been brought into requisition. 
Independent of the simplicity of this sub-marine 
telegraph, it has an advantage which even 
the telegraphs on land do not possess — in the 
event of accident, it can be replaced in ten 
minutes. 

At the last meeting of the British Association, 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 147 

the chairman, sir R. H. Inglis, thus adverted 
to the progress of the electric telegraph, from 
a report presented to the Legislative Council 
and Assembly of New Brunswick, relative to 
a project for constructing a railway, and with 
it a line of electro-magnetic telegraph, from 
Ilalilax to Quebec : — 

" The system is daily extending. It was, 
liowever, in the United States of America that 
it was first adopted on a great scale, by pro- 
fessor Morse, in 1844; and it is there that it is 
now alreivdy developed most extensively. Lines 
for above thirteen hundred miles are in action, 
and connect those states with Her Majesty's 
Canadian provinces ; and it is in a course of 
development so rapid that, in the words of the 
report of Mr. Wilkinson to my distinguished 
friend, his excellency sir W. E. Colebrook, the 
governor of New Brunswick, *no schedule of 
telegraphic lines can now be relied upon for a 
month in succession, as hundreds of miles may 
be added in that space of time. So easy an 
attainment does such a result appear to be, and 
60 hvely is the interest felt in its accomplish- 
ment, that it is scarcely doubtful that the whole 
of the populous parts of the United States will, 
within two or three years, be covered with a 
net-work, like a spider's web, suspending its 
principal threads upon important points, along 
the sea-board of the Atlantic on one side, and 
upon similar points along the lake frontier on 
the other.' I am indebted to the sartie report 
tbr another fact, which I think the association 



148 ELECTRICITY. 

will regard with equal interest : — ' The con- 
fidence in the efficiency of telegraphic commu- 
nication has now become so established, that 
the most important commercial transactions 
daily transpire, by its means, between corre- 
spondents several hundred miles apart. Ocular 
evidence of this was afforded me by a commu- 
nication a few minutes old between a merchant 
in Toronto, and his correspondent in New York, 
distant about six hundred and thirty-two miles.' 
I am anxious to call your attention to the 
advantages which other classes also may ex- 
perience from this mode of communication, as 
I find it in the same report : — * When the 
Hibernia steamer arrived in Boston, in Jan- 
uary, 1847, with the news of the scarcity in 
Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of 
Europe, and with heavy orders for agricultural 
produce, the farmers in the interior of the 
states of New York, informed of the state of 
things by the magnetic telegraph, were throng- 
ing the streets of Albany with innumerable 
team-loads of grain, almost as quickly after the 
arrival of the steamer at Boston, as the news of 
that arrival could ordinarily have reached them. 
I may add that, irrespectively of all its advan- 
tages to the general community, the system 
appears to give already a fair return of interest 
to the individuals or companies who have 
invested their capital in its application.' " 

Professor Morse states, as the result of im- 
provemeilts in this telegraph, the president's 
message, entire, on the subject of the war with 



CONSTANCY OF NATURE. 149 

Mexico, was transmitted with perfect accuracy 
at the rate of ninety-nine letters per minute. 
His skilful operators in Washington and Balti- 
more printed these characters at the rate of 
iiinety-eight, one hundred-and-one, one hundred- 
and-eleven, and one of them actually printed 
one hundred-and-seventeen per minute. He 
must be an expert penman who can write 
legibly more than one hundred letters per min- 
ute ; consequently, this mode of communication 
equals, or nearly equals, the most expeditious 
mode of recording thought ! 

Here, then, we close our series of illustrations 
of what is popularly termed " Natural Magic." 
but, strictly speaking, of natural laws ; ha\'ing 
glanced at the arrangementsof mechanical skill, 
terrestrial phenomena, chemical wonders, and 
'lie effects of light, heat, and electricity. 

In doing so, we are reminded of the words* 
of the psalmist: — *' Thv fiiithtulness is unto all 
generations: thou hast established the earth, 
and it abideth. They continue this day ac- 
cording to thine ordinances: for all are thy 
servants," Psa. cxix. 90, 91. 

The constancy of nature, thus so clearly 
indicated, is illustrated by ordinary experience. 
The child who flies his kite in the air, or 
phices his little ship on the surface of the stream, 
or gathers together the dry leaves to make a 
blaze, yea, even by the food that he eats, and 
by his movements in his daily walks, proves 
that nature has laws, and that in them there is 
continuance. In after-life, the fact is still more 
13* 



150 ELECTRICITY, 

obvious. Every day and every night bear 
their explicit testimony to it. Water finds its 
way to the ocean by a thousand channels; it is 
raised to the higher regions of the atmosphere 
to be dispersed in light and fleecy clouds over 
the four quarters of the globe ; and, at length, 
accomplishes its circuit, by fallin in showers 
on the dry and thirsty ground. 

" It needs, however," says Chalmers, " the 
aid of philosophy to learn how unvarying 
nature is in all her processes — how even her 
seeming anomalies can be traced to a law that 
is inflexible — for what might appear at first 
to be the caprices of her waywardness, are, in 
fact, the evolutions of a mechanism that never 
changes — and that, the more thoroughly she is 
sifted and put to the test by the interrogations 
of the curious, the more certainly will they 
*find that she walks by a rule which knows no 
abatement ; and perseveres with obedient foot- 
step in that even course, from which the eye 
of strictest scrutiny has never yet detected one 
hair's-breadth of deviation. It is no longer 
doubted by men of science, that every remain- 
ing semblance of irregularity in the universe 
is due, not to the fickleness of nature, but to 
the ignorance of man — that her most hidden 
movements are conducted with a uniformity as 
rigorous as fate — that even the fitful agitations 
of the weather have their law and principle— 
that the intensity of every breeze, and the 
number of drops in every shower, and the 
formation of every cloud, and all the occurring 



CONSTANCY OF NATURE. 151 

alternations of storm and sunshine, and the 
endless shiftings of temperature, and those tre- 
mulous varieties of the air which our instru- 
ments have enabled us to discover, but have 
not enabled us to explain — that still, they 
follow each other by a method of succession, 
which, though greatly more intricate, is yet as 
absolute in itself as the order of the seasons, or 
the mathematical courses of astronomy. This 
is the impression of every philosophical mind 
w^ith regard to nature, and it is strengthened 
by each new accession that is made to science. 
The more we are acquainted with her, the more 
are w^e led to recognise her constancy, and to 
view her as a mighty, though complicated 
machine, all whose results are sure, and all 
whose workings are invariable ! " 

Who is not filled with amazement in contem- 
plating the power of the Almighty? Only let it 
be his will to set one of his agents loose, and the 
earth and all that it contains shall be burned 
up. Well may we tremble at the thought of that 
" wrath which is revealed from heaven against 
all imgodHness and unrighteousness of men !" 
On those who believe not, the curse of Jehovah 
abides. Would that men considered how fearful 
a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living 
God ! Convinced by the Holy Spirit of their 
liuilt and danger, they would then fly to the only 
hope set before them in the gospel. 

" In vain we seek for peace with God 
By methods of our own : 
Jesus, there's nothing but thy blood 
Can bring us near the throne. 



152 ELECTRICITY. 

The threatenings of thy broken law 

Impress oar souls with dread; 
If God liis sword of vengeance draw, 

It strikes our spirits dead. 

But thine illustrious Sacrifice 

Hath answered these demands ; 
And peace, and pardon, from the skies. 

Came down by Jesus' hands." 

It has been well remarked by Bacon, that " it 
is heaven on earth to live in charity, to turn 
upon the poles of truth, and to rest in Provi- 
dence." The tenderness and minuteness of the 
Divine care are taught us by our Lord himself: 
^^ Fear not them which kill the body, but are 
not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him 
which is able to destroy botli soul and body in 
hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? 
and one of them shall not fall on the ground 
without your Father. But the very hairs of 
your head are all numbered. Fear ye not 
therefore, ye are of more value than many 
sparrows," Matt. x. 28 — 31. 

Let, then, all who are reconciled to God 
through the death of his Son, be comforted by 
this truth. God is not far from every one of 
us; the vast and the minute are alike under his 
control; and he has graciously promised that 
all things shall " work together for good to 
them that love God, to them who are the called 
according to his purpose." 

In the ignorance and superstition of the 
human mind, applications are sometimes made 
to those who are supposed to be endowed with 
magical powers. Such practices are condemned 
in the Scriptures as vain and wicked. Hence, 



THE OVERRULING PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 153 

says the prophet Isaiah, " When they shall say 
unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar 
spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that 
mutter : should not a people seek unto their 
God ? for the living to the dead ? To the law 
and to the testimony : if they speak not accord- 
ing to this word, it is because there is no light 
in them," Isa. viii. 19, 20. 



CHAPTEk X. 

Claims of t"he church of Rome to miraculous power—The 
Franciscans and Dominicans— Tale of bishop liemi— The 
effect of relics— Friars' pretended dispossession of evil 
spirits — Tragical event — Appearance of the virgin Mary 
to shepherds exposed— Pretended miracle of the Greek 
church. 

The Romish church, in all ages, has aihrmed 
that to it has been granted the power of work- 
ing miracles. Its "Lives of the Saints," a 
series extended avowedly through many cen- 
turies, abound v^ith relations of what are de- 
scribed as supernatural appearances, but which 
we can only trace to a very different cause. 

The two following facts are given by Luther : 
— " Li the monastery of Isenach stands an 
image, which I have seen. When a wealthy 
person came thither to pray to it, (it was Mary 
with her child,) the child turned away its 
face from the sinner to the mother, as if it 
refused to give ear to his praying, and was 
therefore to seek mediation and help from 
Mary the mother. But, if the sinner gave 
liberally to that monastery, then the child 
turned to him again ; and if he promised to give 
more, then the child showed itself very friendly 
and loving, and stretched out his arms over 
154 



THE FRANCISCANS AND DOMINICANS. 155 

him, in the form of a cross. But this image 
was made hollow within, and prepared with 
locks, lines, and screws; and behind it stood 
a knave to move them ; and so were the 
people mocked and deceived, taking it to be a 
miracle wrought by Divine Providence !'' 

*' A Dutchman, making his confession to a 
mass-priest at Kome, promised, by an oath, to 
keep secret Avhatever the priest would impart 
to him, till he came into Germany, upon which 
the priest pretended to give him a leg of the 
ass on which Christ rode into Jerusalem, very 
neatly bound up in a silken cloth, and said, 
* This is the holy relic on which the Lord 
Christ did corporeally sit, and with his sacred 
legs touched this ass's leg T The Dutchman 
was wonderfully pleased, and carried the holy 
relic >vith him into Germany, and when he 
came upon the borders, boasted of his holy 
possession in the presence of four others of 
his comrades, at the same time showing it to 
them ; but each of the four having also 
received a leg from the priest, and promised 
the same secrecy, he inquired with astonish- 
ment, * Whether that ass had five legs !'" 

The frauds practised by the professed minis- 
ters of religion, during the ahnost universal 
prevalence of popery, most afFectingly display 
the depravity of the human heart, and the 
impious tendency of false religion. Never, 
perhaps, was a stratagem acted more infamous 
than one in Berne, in the year 1509, the follow- 
ing account of which drawn from Ruchet's 



156 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

" Histoire de la Reformation en Suisse," and 
Hettinger's ''Hist. Eccles. Helvet.," is given in 
Mosheim's "Eccles. Hist." A similar account 
may be found in bishop Burnet's Travels 
through France, Italy, etc. The stratagem in 
question was the consequence of a rivalshij) 
between the Franciscans and Dominicans, and 
more especially of their controversy concerning 
the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary. 
The former maintained, that she was born 
without the blemish of original sin ; the latter 
asserted the contrary. The doctrine of the 
Franciscans, in an age of darkness and super- 
stition, could not but be popular; and hence, 
the Dominicans lost ground from day to day. 
To support the credit of their order, they re- 
solved, at a chapter held at Yimpsen in the 
year 1504, to have recourse to fictitious visions 
and dreams, in which the people at that time 
had an easy faith ; and they determined to 
make Berne the scene of their operations. A 
person named Jetzer, who was extremely sim- 
ple, and much incHned to austerities, and who 
had taken their habit as a lay-brother, was 
chosen as the instrument of the delusions they 
were contriving. One of the four Dominicans, 
who had undertaken the management of this 
plot, conveyed himself secretly into Jetzer's 
cell; and, about midnight, appeared to him in a 
horrid figure, surrounded with howling dogs, 
and seemed to blow fire from his nostrils, by 
the means of a box of combustibles which he 
held near his mouth. In this frightful form, he 



THE FRANaSCANS AND DOMINICANS. 157 

approached Jetzer s bed, told him tliat he Avas 
the ghost of a Dominican, -vvlio liad been killed 
at Paris, as a judgment from heaven for laying 
aside his monastic habit ; that he was con- 
demned to purgatory for this crime ; adding, 
that, by his means, he miglit be rescued from 
his misery, which was beyond expression. 
This story, accompanied with horrible cries 
and bowlings, frightened poor Jetzer out of 
the little wits he had, and engaged him to 
promise to do all in his power to deliver the 
Dominican from his torment. Upon this, the 
impostor told him, that nothing but the most 
extraordinary mortifications, such as the disci- 
pline of the whip, performed during eight days 
by the whole monastefy, and Jetzer's lying 
prostrate, in the form of one crucified, in the 
chapel, during mass, could contribute to liis 
deliverance. He added, that the performance 
of these mortifications would draw down upon 
Jetzer the peculiar protection of the blessed 
virgin ; and concluded by saying that he 
should appear to him again, accompanied with 
two other spirits. 

^lorning was no sooner come, than Jetzer 
gave an account of this apparition to the rest 
of the convent, who all unanimously advised 
him to undergo the discipline that was enjoined ; 
and every one consented to endure his share 
of the task imposed. The deluded simpleton 
obeyed, and was admired as a saint by the 
multitude that crowded about the convent, 
while the four friars, that managed the impos- 
14 



158 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

ture, magnified, in the most pompous manner, 
the miracle of this apparition, in their sermons, 
and in their discourse. The night after, the 
apparition was renewed, with the addition of 
two impostors, dressed Hke devils ; and Jetzer's 
faith was augmented hy hearing from the 
spectre all the secrets of his life and thoughts, 
which the impostors had learned from his 
confessor. In this, and some subsequent 
scenes, (the detail of whose enormities we shall 
hete.omit,) the impostor talked much to Jetzer 
of the Dominican order, which he said was 
peculiarly dear to the blessed virgin ; he added, 
that the virgin knew herself to be conceived in 
original sin ; that the doctors who taught the 
contrary werq. in purgatory ; that the blessed 
virgin abhorred the Franciscans for making 
her equal with her Son ; and that the town of 
Berne would be destroyed for harbouring such 
plagues within her walls. In one of these 
apparitions, Jetzer imagined that the voice of 
the spectre resembled that of the prior of the 
convent, and he was not mistaken ; but, not 
suspecting a fraud, he gave little attention to 
this. The prior appeared in various forms, 
sometimes in that of St. Barbara, at others, in 
that of St. Bernard; at length, he assumed 
that of the virgin Mary ; and, for that purpose 
clothed himself in the habits that were em- 
ployed to adorn the statue of the virgin in the 
great festivals ; the little images, that on these 
days are placed on the altars, w^ere made use of 
for angels, which, being tied to a cord that 



THE FRANCISCANS AND DOSUNICANS. 159 

passed through a pulley over Jetzer's head, 
rose up and down, and danced about the 
pretended virgin to increase the delusion. The 
virgin thus equipped, addressed a long dis- 
course to Jetzer, in which, among other things, 
she told him that she was conceived in original 
sin, though she had remained but a short time 
under that blemish. She gave him, as a mi- 
raculous proof of her presence, a host, or 
consecrated wafer, which turned from white to 
red in a moment : and, after various visits, in 
which the greatest enormities were transacted, 
the virgin-prior told Jetzer, that she would 
give him the most affecting and undoubted 
marks of her Son s love, by imprinting on him 
the five wounds that pierced Jesus on the cross, 
as she had done before to St. Lucia and St. 
Catharine. Accordingly, she took his hand 
by force, and struck a large nail through it, 
which threw the poor dupe into the greatest 
torment. 

The next night, this masculine virgin 
brought, as he pretended, some of the linen 
in which Christ had been buried, to soften the 
wound, and gave Jetzer a soporific draught, 
which had in it the blood of an unbaptized 
child, some grains of incense, and of conse- 
crated salt, some quicksilver, and the hairs of 
the eye-brows of a child, all of which, with 
some stupifying and poisonous ingredients, 
were mingled together by the prior with magic 
ceremonies, and a solemn dedication of himself 
to the devil in the hope of his succour. This 



160 PKETENDED MIRACLES. 

drangHt threw the poor wretch into a sort of 
lethargy, during which the monks imprinted 
on his body the other four wounds of Christ, 
in such a manner that he felt no pain. When 
he awoke, he found, to his unspeakable joy, 
these impressions on his body, and came at 
last to fancy himself a representative of Christ 
in the various parts of his passion. He was, 
in this state, exposed to the admiring multi- 
tude on the principal altar of the convent, to 
the great mortification of the Franciscans. 
The Dominicans gave him some other draughts, 
that threw him into convulsions, which were 
followed by a voice conveyed through a pipe 
into the mouths of two images, one of Mary, 
and another of the child Jesus ; the former 
of which had tears painted upon its cheeks in 
a lively manner. The little Jesus asked his 
mother, by means of this voice, (which was 
that of the prior,) why she wept? and she 
answered, that her tears were owing to the 
impious manner in which the Franciscans 
attributed to her the honour that was due to 
him, in saying that she was conceived and 
born without sin. 

The apparitions, false prodigies, and abomi- 
nable stratagems of these Dominicans were 
repeated every night; and the matter was at 
length so grossly over-acted, that, simple as 
Jetzer was, he at last discovered it, and had 
almost killed the prior, who appeared to him 
one night in the form of the virgin, with a 
crown on her head. The Dominicans, fearing, 



THE FRANCISCANS AND DOMINICANS. 161 

by this discovery, to lose the fruits of their 
imposture, thought the best method would be to 
own the whole matter to Jetzer, and to engage 
him, by the most seducing promises of opulence 
and glory, to carry on the cheat. Jetzer was 
persuaded, or at least he appeared to be so. 
The Dominicans, however, suspecting that he 
was not entirely gained over, resolved to poison 
him ; but his constitution was so vigorous 
that, though they gave him poison five several 
times, he was not destroyed by it. One 
day, they sent him a loaf prepared with some 
spices, which, growing green in a day or two, 
he threw a piece of it to a wolf's whelps, that 
were in the monastery, and it killed them 
immediately. At another time, they poisoned 
the host, or consecrated wafer, but he escaped 
once more. In short, there were no means of 
securing him, which the most detestable im- 
piety and barbarity could invent, that they did 
not put in practice ; till, finding at last an oppor- 
tunity of getting out of the convent, he threw 
himself into the hands of the magistrates, to 
whom he made a full discovery of this infernal 
plot. The affair being brought to Rome, com- 
missaries were sent from thence to examine the 
matter ; and the whole cheat being fully proved, 
the four friars were solemnly degraded from 
their priesthood, and were burned alive, on the 
last day of May, 1509. Jetzer died some time 
after at Constance, having poisoned himself, 
as was believed by some. Had his life been 
taken away before he had found an opportu- 

ir 



162 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

nitj of making the discovery already mentioned, 
this execrable and horrid plot, Avliich, in many 
of its circumstances, was conducted with art, 
would probably have been handed down to 
posterity as a stupendous miracle. 

When the Reformation was spread in Lithu- 
ania, prince Radzviil was so affected by it, that 
he went in person to pay the pope all possible 
honours. Plis holiness, on this occasion, pre- 
sented him with a precious box of relics. The 
prince having returned home, some monks in- 
treated permission to try the effect of these 
relics on a demoniac, who had hitherto re- 
sisted every kind of exorcism. They were 
brought into the church with solemn pomp, 
and deposited on the altar, accompanied by an 
innumerable crowd. After the usual conjura- 
tions, which Avere unsuccessful, they applied 
the relics. The demoniac instantly recovered. 
The people called out, " A miracle !" and the 
prince, lifting his hands and eyes to heaven, 
felt, it is said, his faith confirmed. In this 
transport of joy, he observed that a young 
gentleman, who was keeper of this treasure of 
relics, smiled, and by his motions ridiculed the 
miracle. The prince indignantly took the 
young keeper of the relics to task ; who, on the 
promise of pardon, gave the following secret 
intelligence concerning them. ^ In traveUing 
from Rome he had lost the box of relics, and, 
not daring to mention it, he obtained a similar 
one, which he had filled with small bones of 
dogs and cats, and other trifles similar to what 



GlIOSS IMPOSTUPvE. 1G3 

were lost. lie lioped lie might be forgiven for 
smiling, ^vllen he ibiind such h collection of 
rubbish was idolized with such pomp, and had 
even the virtue of expelling demons ! It was 
by the assistance of this box that the prince 
discovered the gross impositions of the monks 
and demoniacs, and Radzviil aiterwards became 
a zealous Lutheran.* 

To take another case, for which we are in- 
debted to Scott's " History of tlie Lives of Pro- 
testant Reformers in Scotland." At the east end 
of the village of Musselburgh there was a 
chapel dedicated to the virgin Mary; its proper 
name being Loretta, though it was vulgarly 
called Alareit, or Lawreit. There was also a 
chapel of the same name in Perth, and many 
credulous people of both these places, as well 
as the people of Loretta, in Italy, believed that 
their chapel contained within it the identical 
small brick-built house in which Mary had 
dwelt at Nazareth, and that it had been con- 
veyed miraculously from its original seat. At 
the time now referred to, it was announced in 
Edinburgh, and the neighbouring places, that a 
miracle would be performed on a certain day, 
and a great number of persons consequently 
assembled. A stage was erected on the out- 
side of tlie chapel, and, at length, a young man, 
apparently blind, was led forward. Many ol 
those who were present knew this person, and 
liud, perhaps, often pitied his circumstances. 
Afrer various prayers and ceremonies, his eyes, 
* D'lgraeli's "Curiosities," p. 87. 



164 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

to the satisfaction of the people, appeared to be 
perfect!}^ restored. Eeturning thanks to the 
priests and friars, he now left the stage, and 
received the congratulations of the people, some 
of whom gave him money. 

The true character of the treatment of his 
case will appear from the following narrative. 
He had been a poor friendless boy, who had 
attended the sheep belonging to the ruins of 
Scienna, or Sciennes, about a quarter of a mile 
from Edinburgh. It was oue of his amuse- 
ments to turn up the whites of his eyes ; and, 
so effectually did he do this, as to appear, at 
pleasure, perfectly blind. The nuns spoke of 
him to some priests and friars, and they laid 
the plan which was afterwards carried out. 
The child was secreted for some years from 
pubhc view, and, when it was supposed he was 
so altered as not to be recognised, he was sent 
forth a blind mendicant, accompanied by a 
person who believed he was born so, and had 
previously been supported by the nuns. Bound 
by a solemn but rash vow to affect blindness, 
he travelled the country for a considerable 
time, till at length the trick of his restoration 
was played as has already been stated. 

Among the numerous publications of M. 
Guizot, is an edition of the " Chronicles of 
Frodvard," which, in addition to much historical 
matter, ascribes many miracles to the bishops of 
Eheims. One of them, bishop Kemi, it is said, 
" was in the house of a wealthy female relative, 
jonversing with her on rehgious topics, when her 



THE mado^:>:a. IGij 

butler announced that tlicre was no moro wine in 
the celhirs. The bishop, seeing her embarrass- 
ment, having previously entered some of the 
lower apartments liiniself, proposed to accom- 
pany her to the cellar. When they entered it, 
he inquired whether there was not a little wine 
remaining in a particular cask. The butler 
replied, that there was only enough to preserve 
it from decay. The bishop then desired him 
to shut the door, and not to stir from his posi- 
tion, and passing to the other end to the cask, 
which was pretty large, he made the sign of 
the cross and prayed. Soon the wine rose up 
out of the cask, and flooded over the cellar- 
floor r' Now, the fact of the bishop's visit to 
the cellar first ; of a butler, it might be, not 
very acute in visiop, being desired, after lock- 
ing the door, to exclude all witnesses, and to 
stand at a distance; and, of a relation of the 
bishop, who might easily be made a con- 
federate, being engaged ; is surely more than 
sufficient to set aside the whole tale. Moreover, 
the lady gave, as the result of the prodigy, 
which many a conjuror has easily surpassed, a 
portion of her estate in perpetuity to the bishop 
and his church ! Prodigies of the Romish 
church in abundance have had precisely the 
same issue. 

In an official and authorized Roman 

Tatholic publication, printed in 1831, we are 

)ld that not less than twenty-six pictures of 

lie virgin Mary opened and shut their eyes at 

l^ome diu-ing the years 179G and 1707, which 



16G PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

was supposed to be an indication of her pe- 
culiar favour to the inhabitants of that city for 
the opposition which they presented to the 
French. Among the subscribers to this work 
are the four archbishops and eleven bishops of 
Ireland. 

" An officer in the British army described to 
me," says Mr. Hughes, " an extraordinary 
scene which he witnessed in Messina, in 1811, 
occasioned by a picture of the virgin, in a 
church much venerated by the populace. An 
inhabitant going in, according to custom, to 
offer up his adoration to the Madonna, sud- 
denly ran out again, exclaiming, that ' the 
virgin was weeping for calamity impending 
over the city.' The people rushed in crowds 
to the church ; when, lo \ to their astonish- 
ment and dismay, the tears were, as reported, 
trickling over the cheeks of their beloved 
patroness; upon which, the whole multitude 
began to weep, and howl, and beat their 
breasts, expecting nothing less than an earth- 
quake, or a French invasion. At length one, 
more acute than the rest, observed that some 
water was passing through the roof of the 
church, and dripping upon the canvas, pointed 
out the circumstance; but he nearly fell a 
victim to his want of judgment, for the people 
were determined to have a miracle ; nor could 
they be persuaded to disperse till the arch- 
bishop, a venerable old man, mounted a ladder, 
and wiped the lady's eyes with a napkin ; after 
this, he drew the picture into a more perpen- 



ASSERTED EXORCISM. 1 67 

dicular situation, telling his audience, that, as 
the cause was luckily removed, their patroness 
had promised to weep no more."* 

The author of ** Rome in the Nineteenth 
Century" says: "Private miracles affecting 
individuals go on quite commonly every day 
without exciting the smallest attention. These 
generally consist in procuring prizes in the 
lottery, curing diseases, and casting out devils. 
The mode of effecting this last description of 
miracle was communicated to me the other day 
by an abate here, and, as I think it extremely 
curious, I shall narrate it to you. 

" It seems that a certain friar had preached 
a sermon during Lent, upon the state of the 
woman mentioned in Scripture possessed with 
seven devils, with so much eloquence and unc- 
tion, that a simple countryman who heard him 
went home, and became persuaded that seven 
devils had got possession of him. The idea 
haunted his mind, and subjected him to the 
most dreadful terrors ; till, unable to bear his 
sufferings, he unbosomed himself to his ghostly 
father, and asked his counsel. The father, who 
had some smattering of science, bethought him- 
self, at last, of a way to rid the honest man of 
his devils and his money together. Pie told 
him it would be necessary to combat with the 
devils singly, and, on the day appointed, when 
the poor man came with a sum of money — 
without which the good father told him the 
devil tiever could be dislodged — he bound the 
* Hughes's Travels, Vol. I. p. 125. 



168 PRETENDED mRACLES. 

cliain connected ^vitli an electrical machine in 
an adjoining chamber round his body — lest, as 
he said, the devil should llv away with him — 
and, having svarned him that the shock would 
be terrible when the devil went out of him, he 
left him praying devoutly before an image of 
the Madonna ; and after some time, gave him a 
pretty smart shock, at which the poor wretch 
fell insensible on the floor from terror. As 
soon as he recovered, however, he protested 
that he had seen the devil ily away out of his 
mouth, breathing blue flames and sulphur, and 
that he felt himself greatly relieved. Seven 
electrical shocks at due intervals having ex- 
tracted seven sums of money from him, together 
wdth the seven devils, the man was cured, and 
a great miracle performed ! 

" To us this transaction seemed a notable 
piece of credulous superstition on the one hand, 
and fraudulent knavery on the other ; but to 
our friend the abate, it only seemed an ingeni- 
ous device to cure of his fears a simpleton, over 
Avhose mind reason could have no power — as 
the physician cured a lady who fancied she had 
a nest of live earwigs in her stomach, not by 
arguing with her on the absurdity of such a 
notion, but by showiug her that an earwig was 
killed by a single drop of oil, and making her 
swallow a quantity of it. 

" But wdth respect to the man and his 
devils, I would ask, why inspire superstitious 
terrors to conquer them by deceit, and why 
make him pay so much money ? Yet this is 



THE CONSTITUTIONALIST AND HIS BROTHER. 1G9 

nothing to other tilings that are of daily occur- 
rence." 

In some of the provinces of France, miracles 
are stated continually to be performed, and the 
peasants blindly adopt all the extravagances 
presented to their acceptance. In the little 
town of Fdcamp there is a fountain, the water 
of which is said to do wonders ; and thousands 
of pilgrims annually resort to it from the neigh- 
bouring country. The cure distributes to each 
a bottle of this water, accompanying it with 
some Latin words, receiving two sous for his 
trouble. This amounts to a considerable sum. 
In another town, Andelys, there is also a foun- 
tain which, it is said, possesses, once a year, the 
sovereign virtue of curing rheumatism, palsy, and 
nervous affections. The pilgrims either plunge 
the diseased member into the water, or throw 
themselves in entirely, and, afterwards, follow 
the procession in their wet clothes. 

In the month of June, 1824, in a small 
village, called Artes, near Hostalrich, about 
twelve leagues from Barcelona, there was a 
constitutionalist, and therefore one opposed to 
the ruling power, with which the priesthood 
was fully identified. This man being at the 
point of death, his brother called on the curate, 
and requested him to come and administer the 
sacraments. The curate refused; affirming 
that the brother, as a constitutionalist, was a 
villain, an impious wretch, an enemy to God 
and man ; he was lost, without mercy, and that, 
therefore, it was useless to confess him. The 
15 



170 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

brother asked whence this information was 
derived; the reply was, that God himself told 
the curate this during the sacrifice of the mass. 
In vain the brother reiterated his intreaties ; the 
curate was inexorable. A few days after, the 
constitutionalist expired, and the brother de- 
manded for the body the rites of sepulture. 
The curate refused, alleging that the soul of 
the departed was lost, and that it was in vain 
to inter the body ; adding, " For during the 
night, the devils will come and carry it away; 
and in forty days, you yourself will meet the 
same fate." \,,:^ 

The Spai'rt^^ not treating this declaration 
with implicit faith, but, with his suspicions 
awakened, watched during the night, with his 
pistols loaded, beside the body of his brother. 
Between twelve and one o'clock, a knock was 
heard at the door, and a voice exclaimed, " I 
command you to open the door, in the name of 
the living God ! Open ! if not, your instant ruin 
is at hand.'' The Spaniard refused ; and 
shortly after he saw enter, by the window, 
three figures, covered with the skins of wild 
beasts, provided with horns, claws, and tails; 
and, as they were about carrying off the coffin 
containing the body, the Spaniard fired, and 
shot one of them dead; the others took to 
flight; he fired after them, and wounded both. 
One of them died in a few minutes, the other 
escaped. In the morning, a discovery was 
made: the people went to church, but there 
was no curate to officiate : it was found shortly 



» 



ROMISU CANONIZATION. 1 7 J 

after, on examining those who had been shot, 
that one was the curate, the other the vicar; 
the person wounded was the sacristan, who con- 
fessed the whole plot. The case was l>fought 
. before the tribune of Barcelona.* 

And yet, despite of the frequent exposure of its 
wicked pretences, the Romish church contends 
at this hour as earnestly for the possession of 
miraculous endowments as it ever did. As it 
claims to be unchangeable, this is manifestly 
its only course. Accordingly, it has been 
at^rmed of the last persons added to the 
Romish calendar, only a few years ago, that 
they wrought miracles. The time of canoni- 
zation is sagaciously deferred till two centuries 
after the decease of the parties ; but there is no 
difficulty in seeing that all the avowed devia- 
tions from the laws of nature attributed to the 
canonized, are impious pretences. Dr. Harsnett, 
afterwards archbishop of York, said, long since, 
*' None but the pope and his scholars can 
cogge a miracle kindlie, and he and his priests 
can despatch a miracle as easily as a squirrel 
can cracke a nutte. A miracle in the bread, 
a miracle in the wine, a miracle in the holy 
water, a miracle in holy oyle, a miracle in 
lamps, candles, beades, bones, stones; nothing 
done in religion without a miracle and a vice." 
And even Petrarch thus wrote : — 

•* Fountain of grief, abode of anger, 
School of errors, and temple of heresy ; 
Formrrly Rome, now Babylon false and guilty ; 
Through whom there are so many tears and sighs ; 

* Foreign Quarterly Review. 



172 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

O mistress of deceit ; O prison of anger, 

AA'here the good perish, and the bad are cherished and 

engendered, 
Hell of the living ! It will be a great miracle 
If Christ is not angry with thee at last." 

So recently as the beginning of the year 
1847, the virgin Mary was said to have ap- 
peared to two shepherds, in the district of 
Grenoble. The so-called miracle w^as blazed 
forth far and wdde, and an engraved repre- 
sentation of the appearance was widely distri- 
buted. Nor w^as this all : it was said that the 
virgin sat on a stone during the interview, 
and that, on this being broken, after she was 
gone, there was found in the interior an image 
of our Lord ! But what are the facts that have 
been discovered since ? That the priests em- 
ployed a lady to personate the virgin; and 
that the figure in the st6ne was traced by a 
French officer, who, wath a companion, placed 
it on that spot for a joke; as, in Italy, objects 
of modern manufacture are buried, and then 
dug up, to be passed off on the unwary as 
really antique ! In such instances, however, 
money is frequently made; Avhile the French 
officers had no mercenary intentions. 

We close these exposures with a pretended 
miracle of the Greek church. At the church 
of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, there is 
annually a ceremony to which multitudes are 
attracted. It is pretended by the Greek 
priests, that, on a particular day, a sacred fire 
proceeds from the sepulchre : the pilgrims, 
therefore, congregated at Jerusalem, attend 



THE GREEK FIRE. 173 

there to light theirs; these are then extin- 
guished, and carefully preserved, to be added 
to the garment dipped in the Jordan when 
they are buried. All, however, await the 
arrival of the Turkish governor; for, *' till he 
arrives, the miracle is not certainly to take 
place." 

To quote from some travellers who were 
present at the ceremony, during the year 1846, 
we are informed that ** it was a very remark- 
able scene. The large area of the church was 
densely crowded ; but, around the sepulchre, a 
space of about four feet wide was kept clear by 
a double line of Turkish soldiers. At short 
intervals of time, a number of infatuated and 
highly-excited men and boys entered in, and, 
rushed round and round with desperate energy, 
screaming and hallooing like so many maniacs. 
Some stood upright on a friend's shoulders, 
who ran with the rest till an unlucky stumble 
threw both to the ground. One old man was 
particularly conspicuous; he generally headed 
the rest, and seemed to be fitter for a strait- 
waistcoat than to be the leader of a religious 
]>rocession. He danced, shouted, and threw 
iiinjself into all sorts of postures. At last he 
mounted on another frantic devotee, and urged 
liim to his utmost speed: they continued their 
mad course till he was thrown down violently 
against two of the soldiers ; they seized him by 
the hair of his head, and hauled him out of the 
church. In a few minutes, however, lie re- 
turned and was more outrageous than before. 
15* 



174 PRETENDED MIRACLES. 

Thus, for two hours, the church was a scene 
of noise, confusion, and frantic excitement. At 
two o'clock the governor arrived, and quietly 
took his seat. The racing pilgrims were driven 
off the course, and, shortly after, a procession 
of priests, headed by the patriarch, and fol- 
lowed by a motely group of ragged fellows, 
bearing shabby banners, walked slowly round 
three times, chanting some prayers. The 
patriarch was a grey-headed old man, with 
a cunning expression of countenance ; his very 
look seemed to say, ' I am about to act a lie — 
what fools are you to believe it!' There is a 
circular hole in the side of the little chapel 
built over the sepulchre ; close to it a man was 
posted, protected by the soldiers. He was a 
rich pilgrim, probably an Armenian, who had 
paid handsomely for the privilege of being the 
first to light his tapers by the holy fire. The 
old patriarch, having divested himself of most 
of his fine trappings, entered alone into the 
sanctuary. In a minute after, he pushed 
through the hole a quantity of flaming cotton, _ 
dipped in spirits of wine ; the favoured pilgrim 
eagerly lighted a bunch of tapers by it, and, 
escorted by the soldiers, hurried out of the 
church. The excitement was now at its 
height ; a scene followed which bafiles de- 
scription. There was a tremendous rush 
towards the flame, still held out by the 
patriarch, and each strove wdio should light his 
taper the earliest. Those Avho could not get 
up to head-quarters were obliged to procure a 



THE POWER OF SATAN. 175 

light from the more fortunate, and in three 
minutes the church and adjoining chapels were 
in a blaze. Thousands of wax-candles and 
flambeaux were glittering over the space; some 
had forty or fifty long thin tapers bound to- 
gether, which were intended as valuable pre- 
sents for friends at home. It \va<, for the 
time, like Bedlam let loose: some were kneeling 
in ecstatic adoration, others screaming, dancing, 
and jumping: the more zealous put the flame 
into their mouths, or applied it to their faces or 
naked breasts. It is asserted that the holy fire 
does not burn or hurt any one, but Mr. Dalton 
noticed that few kept it long enough near to 
give it a fair trial. In ten minutes every taper 
was extinguished, and the pilgrims dispersed, 
carrying away the precious relics."* 

In former parts of this volume, it has been 
shown that surprising efl*ects are frequently 
produced for the amusement of others, or from 
the love of gain and celebrity, so common to 
fallen man. And, doubtless, wherever true 
piety does not operate — the piety which is 
displayed in supreme love to God, and pure 
:md expansive benevolence to man — there will 
be some manifestation of the "spirit" that 
worketh in ** the children of disobedience." 
While " he that doeth righteousness is righteous, 
he that committeth sin is of the devil; for the 
devil sinneth from the beginning," 1 John iii. 7, 8. 

To transgressors of every age our Lord still 
^ays, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the 
" The Boat ami the Caravan." 



176 PRETENDED MIPwACLES. 

lusts of your father ye will do," John viii. 44. 
And bondage to the ^' god of this world" brings 
on his captives, whether old or young, rich or 
poor, instructed or untaught, not only guilt but 
misery ; while " the end of these things is 
death," Rom. vi. 21. 

But when we see impious pretences em- 
ployed in order to hold the minds of men in 
the most degrading vassalage, we have a fearful 
display of enormous guilt, accumulated by a 
wilful subjection to " the father of hes." Satan 
w^as " a bar from the beginning." To accom- 
plish his purposes, he can " transform himself 
into an angel of hght;" and still he leads mul- 
titudes "captive at his will." Marvellous is the 
forbearance of the Supreme Governor of the 
universe, who does not at once ease him of his 
adversaries, but still richly and freely offers 
the blessings of salvation to a world which lieth 
in the wicked one. Who will not desire that 
the goodness of God may lead the greatest 
transgressors to repentance ? And, as one act 
of submission to the prince of the power of the 
air is a fearful step towards an absolute and 
eternal thraldom, it becomes each of us to 
imitate those who could say, " We are not 
ignorant of his devices ;" constantly to present 
at the throne of grace the petition, " Lead us 
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;" 
and to trust imp'icitly in Him who, on the 
cross having " spoiled principalities and powers, 
made a show of them openly, triumphing over 
them in it," 2 Cor. ii. 11 ; Matt. vi. 13 ; Col. ii. 15. 



CHAPTER XL 

Real Miracles— A miracle defined by archbishop Tillotson — 
The miracles of INloses— The miracles of our Lord Jesus 
Christ— The miracles of the apostles— Collision with those 
who pretended to supernatural power— The magicians of 
Egypt— Magical arts at Ephesus— The miraculous power of 
the Saviour inherent, that of the prophets and apostles 
derived— Cessation of miraculous gifts. 

We now enter on a brief consideration of un- 
questionable miracles. As the grant of Divine 
revelation was made to some persons who were 
to proclaim it to the whole human race, so, 
while holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost, the broad seal of 
Heaven was placed by miracles on their testi- 
mony. As a man's signature gives validity to 
his bond, or the credentials of an ambassador 
demonstrate his right to transact the business of 
his sovereign ; so the supernatural works per- 
formed by the prophets, by our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and by his apostles, prove as fully to 
those who witnessed them, that the words they 
heard proceeded from God, as if they had 
listened to him pronouncing them with an 
audible voice from the excellent glory; while 
all to whom their testimony has been faithfully 
transmitted, muy cherish an equal conlidcnce. 

177 



178 MIRACLES. 

It has been well remarked by archbishop 
TiUotson, that "there are two things necessary 
in a miracle : that there should be a supernatural 
effect, and that this effect should be evident to 
sense." He adds, " Neither in Scripture, nor 
in profane authors, nor in common use, is any- 
thing called a miracle but what falls under the 
cognizance of the senses; a miracle being 
nothing else but a supernatural effect evident to 
sense, the great end and design whereof is to be 
the sensible proof and conviction of something 
that we do not see." The church of Rome 
affirms that, in the celebration of the mass, the 
bread and wine are changed into the very body 
and blood, soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus 
Christ; though they retain exactly the same 
appearance that they had before the change is 
said to have occurred. Hence, the same writer 
argues, "For want of a supernatural effect 
evident to sense, transubstantiation is no mira- 
cle ; a sign or a miracle is always a thing 
sensible, otherwise it could be no sign. Now, 
that such a change in transubstantiation should 
really be wrought, and yet that there should 
be no sign of it, is a thing very wonderful ; but 
not to sense, for our senses perceive no change. 
And that a thing should remain to all appearance 
just as it was, hath nothing at all wonderful in 
it. We wonder, indeed, when we see a strange 
thing done, but no man wonders when he sees 
nothing done." 

Numberless were the miracles wrought by 
Jehovah in ancient times, in behalf of his chosen 



MIRACLES IN THE WILDERNESS. 179 

people. In vain does infidelity object that the 
contents of the books of xMoses may' not be true- 
since, had thej been false, it was absolutely 
impossible that they coidd have obtained any 
credit. The number of the people must have 
amounted to three millions, and every adult 
person was a competent judge whether the 
things related to have taken place within his 
own memory had really happened. 

The Israelites would not have believed that 
the Red Sea was divided to give them a pass- 
age—that, during their pilgrimage of tbrty 
years in the wilderness, a miraculous cloud had 
guided them by day, and become at night a 
fire casting round its radiance — that they had 
been supplied with manna from heaven, falling 
on six successive days around their camp, and on 
the last of them a double quantity, to prevent its 
being gathered on the sabbath— that God had 
published his lan^ on the mount that miszht not 
be touched, amidst thunders, and lightning, and 
tempest— a^d that he had punished its viofation 
by terribte plagues — for them to believe these 
things ATOuld have been absolutely impossible, 
had the whole narrative been a fiction. A 
roinance would have excited their ridicule, and 
the yoke which, on the ground of the invention, 
was to be placed about their necks, would have 
betn rejected with the utmost indignation. It is 
also morally impossible that the books of Moses 
could have been received in the age immediately 
after his death, if their contents had been false- 
and highly improbable that, though true, they 



180 MIRACLES. 

would have been considered his writings, if they 
had been set forth by some other person in his 
name, and had not appeared till he was lying 
in his grave. 

It would be easy to show that the wondrous 
acts recorded are traced explicitly to Divine 
operation. In illustration of this, the following 
passages may be taken : " I am the Lord, your 
Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King." 
" Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in 
the sea and a path in the mighty waters f' 
alluding, most probably, to the passage of Israel 
through the Eed Sea, and, afterAvards, to their 
crossing the Jordan, both of which events were 
unquestionably miraculous. 

That one great object kept in view by the 
Eedeemer in performing miracles was, to furnish 
convincing proofs of his Divine mission, is 
evident from the uniform t^uor of the inspired 
narratives. Nicodemus reasoned justly when he 
said, " Eabbi, we know that thon art a teacher 
come from God: for no mancandotnese miracles 
that thou doest, except God be with Lim," John 
iii. 2. The same conviction was possessed by 
the chief priests *and the Pharisees, for they 
said, after the resurrection of Lazarus, ^' This 
man doeth many miracles : if we let him thus 
alone all men will believe on him," John xi. 
47, 48. Our Lord himself appeals to his mira- 
cles : " I have greater witness than that of John, 
for the works which the Father hath given me to 
finish, the same works that I do bear witness of 
me, that the Father hath sent me," John v. 36. 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 181 

It is impossible, therefore, that arry statement 
could be more plain and decisive. Our Lord 
rests his claim to be believed on the wonders 
he wrought. Again, he says, " If I had not 
done among them the works which none other 
man did, they had not had sin ; but now they 
have no cloak for their sin." Thus, we see the 
wonders which Christ wrought were unparal- 
leled. He healed the sick, he penetrated the 
minds of men by his own infinite power. And 
hence, the unbelief of those who witnessed his 
mighty deeds appeared in all its aggravated and 
naked enormity; "their sin remained." But, in 
direct opposition to this, there would have been 
a plea for unbelief had pretended miracles been 
true. Had it been a fact, instead of a fable, that 
-^sculapius had cured disease at his oracle, or 
that the god of the oracle of Claros had known 
the thoughts of men's hearts, then, and then 
only, there would have been a cover for their 
iniquity. 

Were we to select one miracle as demonstra- 
tive that Jesus was sent by the Father, and of 
the acceptance of his work; and, still iurther, 
of the ftitility of every objection that can be 
raised against it ; it should be that of the resur- 
rection of the Lord Jesus Christ. " See," says 
Saurin, " how many extravagant suppositions 
must be advanced if the resurrection of our 
Saviour be denied. It must be supposed that 
guards, who had been particularly cautioned 
by their officers, sat down to sleep; and that, 
nevertheless, they deserved credit when the 
16 



182 MIRACLES. 

body of Jesus was stolen. It must be supposed 
that men who had been imposed on in the 
most odious and cruel manner in the world, 
hazarded their dearest enjoyments for the glory 
of an impostor. It must be supposed that 
ignorant and illiterate men, who had neither 
reputation, fortune, nor eloquence, possessed 
the art of fliscinating the eyes of all the church. 
It must be supposed either that five hundred 
persons were all deprived of their senses at a 
time, or that they were all deceived in the 
plainest matters of fact ; or, that this multitude 
of false witnesses had found out the secret of 
never contradicting themselves or one another, 
and of being always uniform in their testimony. 
It must be supposed that the most expert 
courts of judicature could not find out a shadow 
of a contradiction in a palpable imposture. It 
must be supposed that the apostles, sensible 
men in other cases, chose precisely those places 
and those times which were most unfavourable 
to their views. It must be supposed that 
millions madly suffered imprisonments, tortures, 
and crucifixion, to spread an illusion. It must 
be supposed that ten thousand miracles were 
wrought in favour of falsehoods, or all these 
facts must be denied. And then, it must be 
supposed that the apostles were idiots, that the 
enemies of Christianity were idiots, and that all 
the primitive Christians were idiots.^' 

The apostles of our Lord were invested with 
miraculous powers : " God also bearing them 
Avitness, both with signs and wonders, and with 



CONTESTS WITH PRETENDERS. 183 

divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
according to his own will," Heb. ii. 4. As the 
apostles asserted a direct and unequivocal claim 
to miraculous powers, and as these are declared 
in the New Testament to have been exerted 
by them, falsehood, if proved, would destroy 
the veracity of their writings, and the validity 
of all the doctrines and precepts they contained. 
But, let the case be duly weighed, and it wall 
be seen, that, to support their pretensions by 
artifice and chicanery, w^as absolutely impossi- 
ble. A few might be deceived, an empire 
could not be ; and great must be the infatua- 
tion of supposing that a few obscure men could 
blind the eyes of the people among whom they 
lived. In the face of the utmost hostility, in 
the midst of the greatest perils, in defiance of 
cruel persecutions, and with the crucifixion of 
their Lord before their eyes, they could not 
have claimed the exercise of miraculous powers 
if they had not been actually possessed. Had 
they resembled the Romanists, to whom wo 
have referred, would it have been possible to 
escape detection ? 

It is worthy of special remark, that more 
than one accomit is given us in sacred history 
of the messengers of God entering into collision 
with those who pretended to snpernaturul 
power. Thus a memorable contest took place 
between Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh's 
court. Different opinions are entertained as to 
the means by which the latter performed their 
feats, some contending that they were mere 



184 MIRACLES. 

tricks, and others that evil spirits were in active 

operation. On this controverted question we 
do not enter ; it is sufficient for the present 
purpose to remark, that the superiority of the 
servants of Jehovah was placed beyond all dis- 
pute. The rod of Aaron swallowed up the 
rods of the magicians ; at the plague of flies 
and the murrain on the cattle, they were com- 
pelled to say, " This is the finger of God ;" and 
at length they " could not stand before Moses 
because of the boils, for the boils were upon the 
magicians and all the Egyptians," Exod. ix. 11. 

Another instance of a later date is equally 
conclusive. The gospel was proclaimed at 
Ephesus, where the arts which pretended to 
lay open the secrets of nature, and to arm the 
hand of man with supernatui'al powers, were 
especially apparent. Indeed, in the age of our 
Lord and his apostles, pretended adepts in the 
occult sciences were numerous ; they travelled 
from country to country, and were found in great 
numbers in Asia, deceiving the credulous mul- 
titude, and profiting by their expectations. 
They were sometimes Jcavs, who referred their 
skill, and even their forms of proceeding, to 
Solomon, who is still regarded in the east as 
the head or prince of magicians. In Asia 
Minor, Ephesus had a high reputation for 
magical arts. Here, then, " God wrought spe- 
cial miracles by the hands of Paul." The 
appeal to the wonder-workers of a country 
which contained so magnificent a temple to 
Diana, that it was reckoned among the wonders 



MAGICAL ARTS AT EPHESUS. 185 

of the world, was singularly striking. Accus- 
tomed as the Epliesians were to produce strange 
results by some species of m.'igic, they would 
naturally ascribe minicles to a similar agency. 
It was necessai'y, therelbre, that the miracles 
which were to serve as the credentials of Chris- 
tianity, should be especiallj- marked, and placed 
beyond the reach of all their enchantments and 
incantations. And it seems an instance not 
the less remarkable, because easily overlooked, 
of the adaptation of means to an end, that in 
Ephesus, in which, of all others, magic was 
resorted to, the powers granted to the first 
heralds of redeeming mercy sufficed to place 
them at an immeasurable distance above the 
most consummate magicians. 

Another fact is equally entitled to attention. 
Certain Jews travelling in that country, and pro- 
fessing to cast out the evil spirits which frec^uently 
possessed the bodies of men, took upon them, 
as avowed exorcists, to employ the name of the 
Lord Jesus, from the success with which it was 
used by the apostle Paul. Amongst these were 
the seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, who addressed 
an evil spirit in the name of Christ, thinking, 
perhaps, that their number would give special 
force to their adjuration. The spirit, however, 
answered, '* Jesus I know, and Paul I know, 
but who are ye ?" nor was he content with 
refusing to be thus ejected;* for, causing the 
man in whom he dwelt to put forth super- 
natural strength, " he leaped upon the young 
men and overcame tliem, and forced them to 



186 ^ MIRACLES. 

flee out of the house naked and wounded." 
These facts soon became notorious ; fear fell 
alike on the Jews and Greeks residing at Ephe- 
sus ; the most potent appeal had been made to 
those accustomed to use charms and incanta- 
tions ; and numbers were led at once to re- 
nounce their arts of magic. 

Very celebrated were the " Ephesian letters " 
which appear to have been a sort of magical 
formula written on paper or parchment, de- 
signed to be fixed as amulets on different parts 
of the body, such as the hands and the head. 
Erasmus says, that they were certain signs or 
marks which rendered their possessor victorious 
in everything. Eustatius mentions an opinion 
that Croesus, when on his funeral pile, was very 
much benefited by the use of them ; and that 
when a Milesian and an Ephesian were wrest- 
ling in the Olympic games, the former could 
gain no advantage, as the latter had Ephesian 
letters bound round his heel ; but these being 
removed he lost his superiority, and was thrown 
thirty times. Many of these were, probably, 
among the books of which we read. Acts xix. 
19 ; while others were most likely occupied by 
descriptions of the prevaib'ng modes of prac- 
tising " enchantments." But all were promptly 
and cheerfully consigned to the flames. Thus 
the sincerity of the converts was evident by no 
trifling sacrifice, for, when they counted the 
price of these books, they " found it fifty thou- 
sand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the 
word of God and prevailed." 



THE POWER OF CUMST INHERENT. 187 

That there was a difference between the 
operations of the apostles and the agency of our 
Lord, should be clearly perceived. The power 
of the Saviour was inherent — that of the apostles 
was derived. How manifest is the miraculous 
agency of Christ shown in the cure of the 
leper ! " Lord, if thou wilt," said he to the 
Saviour, " thou canst make me clean." Jesus 
answered, " I will — be thou clean," and imme- 
diately he was made whole. Our Lord made 
no appeal to any other power. At the grave of 
Lazarus, indeed, he " lifted up his eyes, and 
said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard 
me." But this prayer appears to have been 
offered not on his own account, but for the 
sake of those who surrounded him, and who 
needed such a seal to his mission to establish 
their faith. Therefore, he added, "And I know 
that thou hearest me always : but because of 
the people which stand by I said it, that they 
may believe that thou hast sent me." And 
as on other occasions, he said, " Thy sins are 
forgiven thee" — " Arise, take up thy bed and 
■walk" — " I command thee to come out of her," 
so now he cried with a loud voice, " Lazarus, 
come forth. And he that was dead came forth, 
bound hand and foot with grave-clothes: and 
his face was bound about ^vith a napkin. Jesus 
saith unto then>, Loose him, and let him go," 
John xi. 42 — 44. 

Our Lord had previously said, " Therefore, 
doth my Father love me, because I lay down 
my life, that I might take it again. No m<in 



188 MIRACLES. 

taketli it from me, but I lay it down of myself. 
I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again. This commandment have I 
received of ray Father," John x. 17, 18. In like 
manner, Jesus said to Martha, " I am the resur- 
rection, and the life : he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live: and 
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die," John xi. 25, 26. How strikingly con- 
trasted was the language of the apostles! In 
the case of the lame man laid at the beautiful 
gate of the temple, Peter said, " Silver and 
gold have I none ; but such as I have give I 
thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, 
rise up and walk." These words, uttered on 
the first miracle of the apostles, expressed the 
great principle on which they performed every 
other, and the spirit in which they wrought all 
their wondrous deeds. 

The apostle, like the prophet, laid down his 
authority, and resigned his commission with 
his life; but our Lord Jesus Christ not only 
exercised his power amidst his last sufferings 
and death, but extended his authority beyond 
the grave." " I lay down my life of myself; 
no man taketh it from me ; I have power to lay 
it down, and I have power to take it again." 
And though he said, " This commandment 
have I received of my Father^" he also added, 
" I and my Father are one" — "thereby," as the 
Jews distinctly perceived, " making himself 
equal with God." 

Even the diversity of gifts distributed among 



CESSATION OF MIRACLES. 189 

primitive saints, proved the infinite resources 
of Him by whom they were granted. Though 
bestowed by the Holy Spirit, they were pur- 
chased by the blood and supplied by the grace 
o{ the Son of God. Speaking of the outpouring 
of the Spirit, and its results, Jesus said, " He 
shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto 
you," Most emphatically does he lay claim to 
all the fulness of the Godhead, when he adds, 
'^AU things that the Father hath are mine: 
therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and 
show it unto you." Thus, the gift of tongues, 
of miracles, of prophecy, and of interpretation, 
proved the infinite power of the Giver, on whose 
will the extent and diversity of the operation 
alike depended. Some had one power and 
some another: but all these wrought that one 
and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man 
severally as he would. 1 Cor. xii. 11. 

The miraculous endowments of early times 
were, however, transient. Certain facts appear 
to be conclusive on this point. No gift was 
more highly estimated, or considered more 
necessary for the propagation of th& gospel, 
than the gift of tongues. And yet, this was, 
unquestionably, of short duration. The only 
reference made to it in all the documents of 
antiquity, is in the work of Irenaius against the 
heretics. He says, " We hear of many in the 
church imbued with prophetic gifts, speaking 
with all kinds of tongues." But though he 
must have required the gift as much as any— 
for he was called to labour for the diffusion of 



190 MIRACLES. 

the gospel among the pagan Celts — yet he ex- 
pressly declares, " It was not the least part of 
his trouble, that he was forced to learn the 
language of the country, a rude and barbarous 
dialect, before he could effect any good among 
them." Augustine, it is evident, knew nothing 
of supernatural power like that which some 
had possessed at a former period. " In the 
primitive times," he says, " the Holy Spirit fell 
upon believers, and they spoke in tongues 
which they had not learned, as the Spirit gave 
them utterance. These were signs suitable for 
the time. It was right that the Holy Spirit 
should thus be borne witness of in all tongues, 
throughout the world. That testimony being 
given, it passed away." With equal expli- 
citness Chrysostom affirms, " Of miraculous 
powers not so much as a single vestige or trace 
remains." 

In vain do Romanists contend for the con- 
tinuance of miracles. Never have they been 
able ito produce a solitary instance in which the 
gift of tongues has been exercised. And yet, 
if any member of their church might have 
been expected to be so endowed, it certainly 
would have been Francis Xavier, who has been 
called " the apostle of the Indies." But even 
he confesses that, ignorant of the language of 
the people to whom he went, he was incapable 
of doing any service to the Christian cause, and 
was little more than a mute statue among 
them, till he could acquire some competent 
knowledge of their tongues. 



CESSATION OF MIRACLES. 101 

Miracles have passed away; but we still 
possess the glorious gospel of the blessed God. 
A power, however, more than human is needed 
to apply it to the heart. To open the blind 
eyes, to unstop the deaf ears, to give spiritual 
discernment to the mind, to break d6\vn pre- 
judice, to humble pride, to "cast down imagina- 
tions and every high thing that exalteth itself 
agamst the knowledge of God," is the work of 
the Holy Spirit. Paul, as he cast around him 
the good seed of the kingdom," might have 
given up all in despair, but for interposing 
Ommpotence. "I have planted," he said, 
" Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase, 
bo then neither is he that planteth anything, 
neither he that Avatereth; but God that giveth 
the increase." 

There is, however, a great diversity in the 
operations of the same Divine Spirit. Some 
are brouglit at once " from the power of Satan 
unto God;" and ever will the time and circum- 
stances of their conversion be held in remem- 
brance. Others are led by a slow and gradual 
process —perliaps scarcely perceptible, and 
attording few points of prominent recollection, 
out of darkness into '' marvellous light." Still 
the result is the same. All are broueht to 
Jesus, and believe on him as having dTed for 
their sms, and risen again for their justification; 
all by virtue of union with him, under the 
sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, are be- 
come new creatures, enjoying the blessings of jiis 
great salvation, holding communion with him, 



192 MIRACLES. 

increasing in resemblance to liim, and yielding: 
to him practical obedience and devotion. To 
him, then, let us constantly look, to apply the 
truth to our own consciences and hearts, to 
sanctify us wholly, body, soul, and spirit, and 
to prosper every effort we make in behalf o£ 
others.- 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
(724)779-2111 



